NightShade: Yukie's Shadow
by Raven D'Acanto
Summary: A girl named Yukie mysteriously appears in the leaf village, with no memory of her past. Why did she come to this village? And where is she really from? ..placed about 2 years after the manga.. please RnR
1. Meeting the Leaf

(A/N: Mkay. So. Ya. A kinda creative title. I'm happy w/ it –took me a while, too-. Umm… let me kno wut u think, cuz if I get good reviews, then I'm gonna keep goin and stick more in here. I'm working on sticking it on the comp –I wrote it out first-. But I'm not gonna waste my time if nobody says nething about it. And that's about it. Necomplaints, e-mail me)

Yukieopened her eyes slowly. The morning's first rays of light shone upon her face. Her brilliant green eyes seemed to jump from her pale skin and contrasted her raven black hair. Something was wrong; she realized it the moment she looked around the room. She was lying on a bed surrounded by many other beds. The room was clean- creepy clean- almost sterile. Every breath brought the smell of medicine and cleaning products. Nobody was around her, but she didn't need to ask where she was. She was lying smack in the center of a medical ward.

A chill went through her spine as Yukie wondered what had brought her here. She couldn't think of what it could have been. She couldn't remember much before she woke up. It was like chunks of memory had been stolen from her. She remembered her name, what various objects in the room were, and how to walk and write and things like that. But everything else was a complete blur. She could remember bits and pieces of her past, but none of the people in her memories had names, or even faces.

Distress seemed to overwhelm her when she realized how odd the room really was. Nowhere in her portions of memories did she remember rooms being so brightly decorated. Something was very wrong; she felt it in her gut. But before she could think any further on the subject, two women walked into the room. The one standing in front looked to be in her mid-twenties. She had long blonde hair that was pulled back into two loose ponytails that draped down her back. She wore a large hat that was red with a white tip. Over the white a red Japanese symbol that read "Hokage" was inscribed. She smiled wide when she was Yukie, making her more beautiful than before.

The woman behind her seemed to be around 18 to 20 years old. Her hair was bright, almost pink, and ended just below her chin. She wore a pink and black outfit with black fingerless gloves. She eyed Yukie then lowered her eyes back to the ground, like she didn't want to be noticed.

The elder woman stepped forward and Yukie looked back at her. "I see you're awake," she said cheerfully, "My name is Tsunade. I'm Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. My assistant, Sakura, and I have been worrying about you since we found you."

Yukie searched for words, and then decided it would be best to keep things simple. "What happened?"

"One of our more powerful ANBU, Shino, and his group leader, Shikamaru, found you in the forest beyond the village. Shikamaru brought you back here and Sakura and I healed you as best as we could," Tsunade replied simply.

"Healed… like how?" Yukie asked slowly.

"Using jutsus… how else?" Sakura replied, looking at Yukie like she was either insane or just dumb for not realizing this.

"Jutsus," Yukie replied skeptically. "So… you're ninjas…?" The two nodded and Yukie almost fell out of her bed. They couldn't possibly be ninjas! From what Yukie could remember, ninjas were strong and dark. The ones who specialized in healing jutsus stayed in the medical ward. Ninjas fought each other for ranks and respect. They were ruthless, and should never be disrespected. But, because she new she was at a disadvantage, Yukie decided to play along. "So two… ANBU…?"

"ANBU are secret-nins at the Jounin level. They are the highest rank you can get without becoming Hokage. They specialize in certain individual areas of their abilities," Sakura explained, almost like she was reciting from a book.

"You… know a lot about this stuff… don't you?" Yukie asked quietly.

"Sakura is the smartest Shinobi of her rank – Jounin. In fact, Sakura had been telling me that she wished to teach young Genin… if you're interested," Tsunade said proudly.

"How do you know I'm a Genin?" Yukie asked, turning from Tsunade to Sakura.

Sure enough, Sakura had another explanation. "Your chakra has been released before. When a person is born, their chakra's locked inside them. It stays that way until they learn to release the Chakra. You've obviously learned how to use your chakra before, and you have a great amount of it. If you're not a Genin now, you should be."

"While we were taking a look at your injuries," Tsunade said, drawing Yukie's attention back to her, "We noticed a memory jutsu had been used on you. By your reactions, I'm guessing you don't remember anything of your best ninja life. Starting as a Genin would make the most sense. I'd like to have Kakashi use his Sharingan Eye on you, to see if he can pick up anything on your past." She turned to Sakura. "Tell him he must be here as soon as he can." Sakura nodded and left the room.

Tsunade turned back to Yukie. "When Kakashi comes, I'm going to need you to relax. He has a special type of Sharingan that allows him to see on the border of people's minds. It's almost like using the Sharingan's hypnotic ability, but it's specially developed. We don't know why he's so different, but we think it has something to do with the fact that he is not the original owner of his Sharingan Eye."

Before Yukie could ask about this strange comment, Sakura came back in with a man behind her. He was tall and fit; his hair was grey and disheveled. He wore what Yukie recognized as the classic Leaf ninja outfit. His head protector had the Leaf Village symbol on it and was pulled over his left eye. A navy blue cloth was pulled around his neck and over his mouth, to rest just above his nose. All that was easily visible of his face was his right eye. He seemed carefree when he addressed Tsunade and Sakura, but he was constantly alert.

He bowed his head when he turned to Yukie. "I'm Hatake Kakashi. I'm supposed to 'see' how much power you have and how much you remember." He lifted his head protector from his eye to reveal a huge gash over his eye; long since healed over. He opened his eye; it was red, with three small black dots on it. "If you could just relax and look into my eye, I will be able to see." The black dots spun and changed to look almost like a bent windmill. It continued to spin and Yukie could feel it bore into her mind.

It felt like hours, almost days, but Yukie knew it could only have been a couple of minutes. Kakashi blinked and his Sharingan eye stopped spinning. Once it went back to normal, Yukie noticed Tsunade and Sakura standing on either side of Kakashi. The room came into focus, light shining through the windows, people talking outside.

Kakashi turned to Tsunade. "She has a great amount of chakra, and experience in some… _darker_ jutsus. It also looks like she has a bloodline trait; a shadow jutsu I've never seen before. She should have no trouble mastering it, if taught properly."

"What do you suggest?" Tsunade asked in a quiet voice.

"Neji," Kakashi replied without a moment's hesitation, "He's mastered his Byakugan, and he's younger than their leader was when he was at this point. Hinata's still studying, and this jutsu is a lot like Byakugan and Sharingan. I would teach her myself, but because I've re-joined the ANBU, I've been too busy looking for Orochimaru and Kabuto, his lackey."

_Orochimaru, Kabuto_; their names struck a cord in Yukie's mind, but she gave no indication. This Orochimaru sounded dangerous; she didn't want them to think she was linked to him.

"Very well," Tsunade's words cut through Yukie's thoughts. "Neji should be practicing in the forest. Sakura, because you will soon be teaching Yukie and two others, would you take her to Neji? With any luck, he will be willing to teach her; as long as it's alright with you, Yukie." Yukie nodded and Tsunade continued, "Thank you, Kakashi, for your help. You can go back, I'm sure Anko would like to have you back from the training."

Kakashi heaved a sigh, "Training the new ANBU is a real hassle. Especially because Naruto's one of them; along with Rock Lee- a bad combination. Ever since Lee helped Naruto out with that sound nin, the two have been more competitive than ever."

"That was years ago," Sakura said quietly, her mind trailing back to that fateful time.

"But they still haven't given it up," Kakashi replied with another sigh, "It's just like in the Wave Country when Naruto and Sasuk-" Sakura's face fell and Tsunade shot a sharp look at Kakashi, who cleared his throat and quickly turned away from Sakura. "I've gotta go, Anko's waiting for me." He walked quickly out of the room, leaving it in an uncomfortable silence.

After a moment, Tsunade turned to Sakura, "If you could take Yukie to Neji now, that'd be great." Sakura nodded and Yukie solemnly followed her out the door.


	2. Seeing in the Dark

(A/N: mkay. Now Neji comes in! YAY! –I adore Neji-. Well… I kinda fast forward a lil towards the end. If ya'll think I did nething wrong or something, just let me kno, I appreciate ur input! Please RnR… that's about it. ENJOY!)

Neji stood in the center of the forest in a small clearing. His eyes were closed, his mind was cleared. If he could get this, his pinhole blind spot would be gone. A blind spot this small doesn't seem that bad, but it was for him. The further away the enemy was, the bigger the blind spot was. He concentrated his chakra and, once he had enough, his eyes snapped open. His eyes were almost all white; he had what looked like veins from the edges of his eyes spreading to his temples. This was Byakugan.

Before him, a few yards ahead, a deer was feeding. To his right, a young ninja named Konohamaru was playing with his girlfriend, Moegi. They could be strong, had they trained like Neji did, instead of flirt. But Neji went back to his training.

There were six birds behind him on the edge of the forest. One of the birds stirred; something frightened them. The six flew into the air and Neji turned to look at them. He cursed under his breath when he saw seven birds fly high in the sky. The blind spot was still there. He turned back to face the place where the deer was feeding to continue training by scanning the forest.

After a few minutes of training, Neji saw through his Byakugan Sakura and another girl approaching. They must have scared the birds. Once Sakura was in the clearing, Neji spoke up, making the other girl jump, "What do you want?"

"The Fifth Hokage wishes to know if you would be willing to train this girl," Sakura replied formally, "Her name is Yukie. She's trained as a ninja before, but a memory jutsu was used on her. She doesn't remember anything that has to do with ninjas."

"Why does The Fifth want me to teach her?" Neji inquired.

"According to Kakashi, she has a bloodline jutsu we've never seen before. But he says it's a lot like Byakugan. If you're not willing to take her, I'm sure we could bring her to Hinata."

Neji closed his eyes, "Hinata needs to train. She's weak; not strong enough to be a teacher."

"That's why we came to you. If you could teach her a couple of times a week, I could take care of everything else. Tsunade will be assigning me a Genin team and she plans to put Yukie in it."

"I will see if she is suitable to teach. But if she is, she won't fit in with the other two."

Sakura turned to Yukie, "Would you want Neji to teach you even if you don't fit in?"

Yukie replied automatically, almost as if she had been given this choice before, "Fitting in matters nothing if it means I can be strong." Sakura looked shocked.

Neji seemed impressed, though. He said with a small smile, "The reply of a soldier. I wonder where you had been trained." There was a moment of silence as Neji took Yukie in. She seemed strong. Her chakra was great. Even though she mostly acted shy and unconfident, he could tell she was trained to be a powerful ninja. Her eyes were hard, indicating she had killed before and would probably have no trouble doing it again. Her stance was light, like she was ready for an ambush. She moved little, but saw a lot, probably subconsciously taking in her surroundings and keeping an eye out for trouble.

Turning to Sakura, Neji made up his mind, "In one week, the graduation exam will be taken at the Ninja Academy. Give her to me for that long. At the end of the week, I will give you my decision."

Sakura nodded and left Yukie and Neji alone. Yukie turned to Neji; he looked strong. He wore tan shorts and shirt. His black hair was long and tied back at the bottom. His eyes were strange. She wondered if she would have strange eyes like Kakashi and Neji once she learned to use her jutsu.

"You're Yukie," he began, taking a step toward her, "I'm Neji. I might teach you… if you prove you're strong." The two shook hands and Neji continued, "Follow me; it's time to test your skills."

**

* * *

The two walked further into the forest until they reached a huge clearing with various objects around it.**

Neji turned to Yukie, "I'm going to give you one minute to figure out how to activate your bloodline jutsu. By the end of that minute, if you haven't made any progress, I can't teach you."

"But how should I know how to activate my jutsu?" Yukie asked slowly.

"The only person that could know is you." He replied, "Don't think about it, just do it."

Yukie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She thought of Kakashi, raising his pointer and middle finger to concentrate his chakra. Something else in the back of her mind told her she was different. She crossed her pointer and middle fingers and raised it to be level with her face. Chakra stirred inside and Yukie opened her eyes.

Her eyes were black as night. Everything she saw was black, with small shade differences for solid objects. She looked over at Neji; he seemed to be glowing red, like she could see his body heat.

Neji was watching her. "What do you see?" he asked as she looked at him. When his lips moved, Yukie could almost see a shadow that was moving barely a second ahead of him.

"Everything's black, like it's in shadow. And people are reddish. It's weird."

Neji nodded and moved behind a tree, "Now what do you see?"

"The same thing. You're still red, just a little lighter."

Neji nodded again and came forward. He concentrated and two clones appeared. Then he asked, "What do they look like?"

"Grey, like everything else, but you," She replied, looking at one of the clones. It was almost like she could see _through_ it.

The rest of the day went on like this: Neji would find out what she could see, and even how she fought. He said she had good reflexes. She didn't know how, but she almost managed to know what Neji would do a second before he did it. He took her to his house when the sun started to set. He prepared a room and a bed for her to stay in and made dinner for the two of them.

* * *

The next morning, Yukie decided to make breakfast for herself and Neji. He seemed to like her food, and took his time getting ready. Once again, Neji took Yukie back to the clearing in the forest and trained her to fight and use her bloodline ability. He told her she was growing faster than he had thought. He also said he had no doubt in his mind that Yukie had once been an expert in combat. Yukie was glad to hear him say this, and tried even harder to train.

During the next two days, Yukie trained with Neji. It was a huge strain on her body, but she still managed. For some reason, the energy it took to train for so long seemed to be easier on her than most people. On the fifth day, Neji was awake before Yukie. When she came out of her room, Neji called her over to him.

"You've been training very hard," Neji began when Yukie sat next to him at the table. "So today, you can rest. I've already decided to train you as long as you keep trying as you have been. I thought you should get to know Sakura and learn more about Konoha before you join your Genin team. Sakura's on her way… as long as you want her to show you around, she will."

Yukie nodded, "I'd love to see the village."

A few minutes later, Sakura came into the living room. Her smile was huge and, for some reason, she seemed excited. "Ready?" She asked, looking from Yukie to Neji. Both nodded and Yukie rose. "Well then, let's go!" Sakura said enthusiastically.


	3. A Demon

(A/N: I hope the stuff at the end –which I'm not going to mention- doesn't make anybody too terribly upset. I made the creature up, so don't base any facts on it or anything. And I know Itachi doesn't normally work with Deidara, but she was the only one I could think of off the top of my head and I was writing this out before I bothered to type it. Ummm…. I had fun with this one… lots of facts and info and stuff, hope it wasn't too much… I woulda used Anko instead of Kurenai, but I'm saving Anko for later. Mwahaha. That's all. Lemme kno wut u think!)

Standing outside Neji's house was another girl. She had long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail except one long strand. She wore mostly purple and her eyes were a vibrant blue. She smiled when she saw Sakura come out with Yukie.

"This is Ino," Sakura introduced, "She's going to come with us."

"Sakura may be good at showing people around and everything, but she wanted me to tag along. See, she realized that when it came to shopping, I have _good_ taste, unlike her," Ino said maliciously.

"I'm only letting you come, Ino _Pig_-Chan, because Tsunade's going to call for me some time today and I don't want to strand Yukie in the middle of Konoha." Sakura retorted, "Let's go," she added before Ino could reply.

Sakura lead the way, with Yukie on her left and Ino next to Yukie. For most of the day, Yukie followed Sakura and Ino around as they looked around the village. Sometimes Ino would take Yukie into a store and shop a little, or just look around. Most of the time, though, Ino and Sakura would just argue and contradict one another. Yukie could tell by how they argued, they had been friends a long time and had fun competing with each other.

At around one o'clock, Sakura and Ino agreed on a place to eat and the three settled down at a table. During the meal, Sakura and Ino told Yukie about Konoha as a whole. Tsunade was the Fifth Hokage (the Godaime). Apparently the first two Hokages (Shodai and Nidaime) were great men. They established the basic rules of the village, set alliances with other villages, kept peace in the nation, and ultimately made the village one of the largest and strongest villages ever.

The Third Hokage (Sandaime) ruled for the longest time. Both Ino and Sakura had known him personally. He selected the Fourth Hokage (Yondaime) once he believed his time as Hokage was over. After only a little time as Hokage, a demon attacked the village and Yondaime lost his life to save the village. Because the Fourth had not chosen a successor, Sandaime became Hokage again.

The loss of his apprentice scarred the Third Hokage and he chose not to pick another Hokage until the village became stable again. Unfortunately, before he could choose a Godaime, Sandaime was killed by an enemy ninja, Orochimaru. Orochimaru attacked Tsunade shortly after she refused to become the Fifth. When she realized the true threat, Tsunade defeated Orochimaru and accepted the title Godaime. Now, Orochimaru's a fugitive, along with his village: Otoga (or the Hidden Sound).

Everybody had fallen into silence when a bright hawk flew overhead, letting out a screech every once in a while.

Sakura rose and said, "Well, I have to go now. Ino, make sure Yukie is back at Neji's by four. He has something planned. Well, I'll see you guys later." And she was gone.

Ino turned to Yukie, "It's time to get some _real_ shopping done." Ino took Yukie to many stores. She got Yukie enough clothes to make her closet full. Yukie now wore an outfit Ino had bought for her. Although it didn't completely match the Hidden Leaf Village's style, it still blended with the others well. She wore a semi-dark purple top with the bottom and sleeves torn and a skirt that tied on the side of the same style. Under the skirt she wore black shorts. Slightly darker cloth was wrapped around her feet up to her knees and from her elbows to her wrist. She wore dark reddish-brown shoes and fingerless gloves of the same color.

By the end of the day, Ino and Yukie's arms were full with bags and Neji had to open the entrance and Yukie's bedroom doors for them. Both girls were laughing and having a great time when they separated. Ino left the Hyuuga grounds with a last wave.

Yukie turned to Neji, "So, I hear you have something planned," she said, looking him in the eyes.

"I figured, because of how hard you've been working, I'd-" his voice cut short, his body tensed, and he spun on his heel to look at the door. He concentrated his chakra and used his Byakugan to look through the door. Yukie's ears perked and she listened intently to the silence.

"What is that?" She asked in a whisper.

As soon as the words left her lips, the bell in the center of the Hyuuga Clan began to ring. "An attack," Neji replied before rushing out the door.

Yukie ran after him, calling, "Where are you going?"

"It's my duty to protect my village. If you want to be a ninja, it's your duty, too." Yukie felt herself swell with pride. She was a ninja now; she had to protect her village and the people living in it. At that moment, Yukie swore to herself she would do all in her power to keep her village safe; even if it meant she would have to lose her own life.

Other ninjas joined Yukie and Neji on their way to the danger. Some of them Yukie knew. There was Hinata, who Yukie met on her third day in the clan. There was also Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba, who Yukie met earlier that day. Ino came from her flower shop and joined them, too.

"Does anybody know what this is all about?" Ino asked the crowd of travelers.

"We're being attacked, what do you think this troublesome alarm means?" Shikamaru returned.

"Well I know that!" Ino said huffily, "I just wanted to know if anybody knew anything else!"

"Then why didn't you just say that?" Kiba asked with a small laugh, followed by an enthusiastic bark from Akamaru.

"Why do you always have to be… so… mean…?" Ino's voice faded away when she saw exactly _what_ was attacking the village.

"…That's one _huge_ bird…" one boy murmured under his breath.

"Way to state the obvious, Lee," a girl standing next to him said hottily.

Lee turned toward the girl, but Neji stuck an arm out to stop him, "Lee, Tenten, now _isn't_ the time to start arguing."

A blond boy standing behind Yukie burst out, "What the hell is that thing?"

Hinata stood next to him and shyly commented, "It has a huge amount of chakra."

"It must be a demon," Tenten said to herself.

Suddenly Yukie knew, "It's the seven-tailed phoenix demon."

The blond boy went rigid, "The seven tails… no way… so the Akatsuki haven't gotten to it yet."

Sakura stood next to the blond boy, and Kakashi was next to her. Yukie wondered when they had arrived. "Be quiet, Naruto," Sakura ordered.

Kakashi leaned over to the boy Sakura called Naruto, "Itachi and Deidara went to capture the girl that had it… she killed herself just to spite them."

"What village was she from?" Naruto whispered back.

"The sound," Kakashi replied.

"Kabuto must not have been happy," Sakura said, "I thought he had only come to ask for peace with the Hokage. That's why I was called to see Tsunade. He said he chased Orochimaru out…" Sakura's voice seemed to fade away as Yukie got sucked into her own thoughts.

Everything Yukie saw was like a dream. Kakashi's words echoed in her head, _"She killed herself just to spite them."_ Something in her head spoke to her. A voice covered by shadow came forward and told her what she didn't want to her, "_Talah's dead. She took her life to keep the Akatsuki from her seven-tails demon._" Yukie's friend was gone. And it was the fault of a man named Itachi. She would avenge Talah. She had to.

The seven-tailed phoenix dove for the village. Every time it opened its mouth, fire flew out. The demon lit a portion of the forest on fire and all the ninjas flew into action. Yukie wasn't much help to the ninjas. All she could do was avoid its attacks and give it a few ineffective hits. But the other ninjas were strong, and extremely skilled.

Neji and Hinata had the Gentle Fist Attacks, allowing them to attack the demon quickly and effectively. Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji summoned water to put out the fires the demon had created. Sakura and Lee had incredibly strong Taijutsus that they combined. Naruto made hundreds of copies of himself and attacked in various ways, including concentrating his chakra into his hand to create a pure-chakra attack. Tsunade used the same technique as Sakura, only twice as strong. Tenten summoned weapons and hurled them at the demon. Kakashi used what he called Chidori. It looked like he was holding lightning, and sounded like a thousand birds chirping all at once. An old man with white hair summoned a frog almost as big as the demon and also used the same attack as Naruto. Kiba and Akamaru transformed into a huge two-headed dog and had a spinning attack they used often.

Once the demon seemed tired out, a woman named Kurenai came forward with an infant child. In a matter of moments, the demon was gone and sealed inside the child. Ninjas worked the rest of the night finding injured and dead ninjas and putting out the last fires –with help from the giant frog-.

The next day, Tsunade called all of the ninjas of the Hidden Leaf Village to the square, where she thanked everybody that fought, paid respects to the dead, personally thanked Kurenai, and proclaimed the infant with the demon a hero of the village.

She said the child risked his life every day that the demon was inside him and told them he must be respected. Throughout this speech, Naruto seemed very uncomfortable and Sakura stood beside him, comforting him.

After the speech, Yukie went back to her room in Neji's home. She lay on her bed, alone. Her head was spinning. Talah was dead… how did she know Talah? She racked her brain, but she just couldn't remember.

(Quick A/N: Wow. It was longer than I thought O.o. RnR!)


	4. So Many Memories

(A/N: I couldn't wait to get this one out. I adore Orochimaru. Hope I didn't get nething wrong. And I love getting reviews on this stuff. Criticism is appreciated as long as it's not mean. I listen to complaints and usually end up fixing whatever it is I screwed up. And… yeah. So enjoy and please RnR!)

That night, Yukie didn't eat dinner. She hadn't even come out of her room after Tsunade's speech. Neji tried to get her to come out, but she didn't even talk to him. Often, Neji would come to her door and use his Byakugan to make sure she was still there.

Yukie lay on her bed, looking up at the ceiling. Why couldn't she remember? She remembered the phoenix demon, she remembered Talah, she remembered some of her bloodline jutsus, and she remembered there was more she didn't know. Apparently, Talah had been from the Sound. Orochimaru was from the Sound. His name sounded so familiar; she could almost see his face. Eventually Yukie fell asleep. Her dreams were full of snakes, demons, and people without faces. Words she had never heard before flew through her head: Manda, Otokage, Sharingan, "My Pet".

The next day, Yukie stayed in her room. She didn't eat or speak the whole time, she just tried to remember. As she stared at the ceiling, she noticed it seemed to be getting darker, but she didn't pay attention to it. She couldn't care less about the ceiling, it was just changing to match her mood; dark and horribly lost. Neji tried leaving food by her door, but that did nothing. She just ignored it. That night was also filled with mysteries Yukie couldn't answer. She couldn't figure anything out and none of her dreams made sense.

The morning after, Sakura banged on Yukie's door. "You have to come out," she said through the door, "I'm meeting the two other members of my team. Because you're the third member, you need to come, too."

Yukie opened the door and looked out at Sakura. Her eyes were bloodshot and, from what Sakura could see, the green coloring in her eyes had turned to black. Her skin was deathly pale, almost white, like she had been locked in her room for two decades, not two days. Sakura took in a sharp breath when she saw Yukie. But before she could say a word, Yukie spoke. Her voice was rough and strained, "I'm fine," she said, but the words didn't comfort her one bit.

Sakura nodded and led the way to the Ninja Academy. Yukie hadn't eaten in the past two days, but she told herself not to let her hunger get to her. The students were finishing with lunch, and the leaders were talking together. Sakura joined the group and introduced Yukie to them. Kurenai was a woman with black hair and red eyes (she had given the infant to Tsunade three days ago). She had only taught three years, but not in a row. There was also Asuma, a tough guy who taught his groups with a strong fist yet calm temper. Ebisu was going to be a rookie trainer, but had taught the honorable grandson of the Third Hokage a few years ago.

A girl Yukie had met before was also there, TenTen. Although TenTen wasn't going to be teaching this year, she had the year before. She was the person who had convinced Sakura to train, too, but had been placed into a team with Ino and Hinata for a mission. The mission had gone wonderfully and the three always worked together after that. They made up a Chuunin Squad, with TenTen as the Jounin leader.

The four leaders went into the Academy once the clock stuck one. TenTen left the leaders to their jobs. The students had been assigned team numbers, so each leader walked into the room one by one and collected their team members. Team numbers were assigned according to numbers open from previous Genin teams that separated. Asuma was team ten's leader, like always. Kurenai was team five's leader. Ebisu was team two's leader (with Konohamaru a member of his team). And Sakura was team seven's leader.

Sakura went in last and got the two other members of the team with Yukie behind her. "Before we make introductions, I suggest we go to my house; to make the environment more relaxed." She led the way to her house, with Yukie and the two others following her. A few minutes later, the four were settled comfortably in Sakura's living room. They went around the room and introduced themselves.

First was the girl on the left. "I'm Senji. I want to be a ninja because I think female ninjas don't get enough credit. I will _prove_ that girls can be better ninjas than boys!"

The boy sitting next to her seemed optimistic of this comment, but he didn't say anything of it. "I'm Kimoto and I want to be a ninja because every _man_ in my family had been great, and I must be great, too."

It was Yukie's turn. She didn't even know why she wanted to be a ninja herself, so she just said what came out. "I'm Yukie. I want to be a ninja because… It's my destiny." It would sound corny coming out of anybody's mouth, but for some reason, how Yukie said it, it sounded determined and brave. But to Yukie, it sounded practiced, like making that her reply was forced instinct from a life of being told what to do.

Sakura only smiled and introduced herself. "I'm Sakura. I'm a ninja because being a ninja is protecting those you care for with all you have and doing what's best for the world really counts. And because I can do this, I will. Everything you learned at the Ninja Academy will become real now. If you are not willing to die for your reason to become a ninja, leave now." She pointed at the door, but nobody left.

"Alright then," She clapped her hands together, "We will spend today getting to know each other. Do any of you have any questions for me?"

Senji raised her hand slowly and spoke, "What was your team like when you were first a Genin?"

Sakura smiled, "Wow, that's a great question." She went over to a shelf and pulled a framed picture from it. "This is a picture of me when I was your age." She pointed at each person as she named them off. "Up at the top is my sensei, Kakashi. Over here is Naruto, he used to teach team eight, but now he's working on becoming an ANBU. Here's me… when I kept my hair long. And here on the end is Sasuke… he left the Hidden Leaf Village a few years after this was taken…"

Her voice seemed to fade away, like when Yukie had overheard Kakashi talking about Talah. Yukie looked closely at the picture… Sasuke… he seemed distant in the picture, yet animated in her mind. She could hear him talking, him laughing, felt his touch. She had known him at one time. Then the pieces fell together. She could remember.

_It was her last few moments in her village before Orochi-Kun placed the memory jutsu on her. She had already said goodbye to Talah and Leon, her two partners. Sasuke-Sensei lead her out into a forest where Orochi-Kun was waiting. Sasuke gave her a warm hug and Orochi-Kun told her something. Then, his hands moved quickly, Yukie's eyes trailed up to reach Orochi-Kun's, and everything went black. Words echoed in her head, in the darkness, "Until next time, My Pet."_

_But what was it Orochi-Kun had said before performing the jutsu? She couldn't remember. It was important, she knew it was. She had to remember._ Before she knew what she was doing, Yukie had raised her hand into the air and asked to go to the bathroom. She absent-mindedly followed Sakura's instructions to the bathroom and locked the door behind her. Then Orochi-Kun's words came back: _"Call for me once you remember."_ It was an order; it was Orochi-Kun's order. She had to obey.

Yukie raised her hands up to be level with her nose and performed the jutsu she remembered without knowing it; _Shadow Summon_. Then she spoke in a voice that echoed in her head and sounded foreign, yet familiar, "Orochi-Kun."

The room was enveloped in darkness that sprouted from Yukie's very being until all was covered in shadow. Out from the ground came the image of a tall, demanding form. He had long black hair and wore clothes that matched the style of the Sound ninjas. His chakra seemed to explode from within him, even in the illusion of his presence, and his whole being demanded attention. It was only the ghost of the man she wanted to see, an image projected by her power and the mind of him devoted to speaking to her without having to leave his place, wherever he was. Yukie only met his yellow snake's eyes for a second, before hers dropped to the floor. She had to show him respect. Not just because he was her master, but because he was the one and only Orochimaru.


	5. Summoning OrochiKun

(A/N: Mkay, super climactic, eh? I love it. I kno the plot is lots like the whole Zabuza/Haku thing…. But trust me, it changes. -nod nod- yup yup. I adore Orochimaru (if u can't tell) and hate Kabuto muches (it's a word!). I hope y'all love it as much as I do… trust me… it gets better. Lemme kno wut u think (aka please RnR). And enjoy!)

Orochimaru placed a hand on her chin and raised her head to look at him, "I am impressed, My Pet," he said in a silky voice, "You've only been here a week, and you already remember how to summon me with Shadow Summon. I have a request for you: stay on Sakura's team. Don't let them know about me. Kabuto's here now; he's staying in Tsunade's quarters. Once he finishes with his business, he will stop at the main gate. That is when we will attack. The Hidden Leaf Village will be mine. There are others here on my side as well. Tsunade believes Kabuto and some other ninjas chased me out of the Hidden Sound Village. They think he's the new Otokage and he says he wishes to form alliances with Konoha. I have them in the palm of my hand. Soon, I will crush them."

Yukie felt torn, "But, Orochi-Kun, they took me in. They gave me a home. They treated me like one of their own when they knew I needed it. They didn't care if I was an enemy or a friend. I needed help and they gave it to me."

Orochimaru's eyes seemed to grow red with malice and his body tensed, but his voice was still silky and calm. "Do you know why I call you 'My Pet'?" He asked. Yukie shook her head slowly and he continued, "Do you know why you are the only one I allow to call me 'Orochi-Kun'?" She shook her head again. "When you were a child, your parents abandoned you. They discovered you had an ancient bloodline gift that had remained dormant for generations. When they discovered this gift, they treated it like a curse and cast you out to die alone on the streets. Then what happened." Orochimaru asked, more commanding her to continue the story than actually asking a question.

Yukie was slowly remembering, and she knew the answer to this question she had been asked so many times, "You came. You took me in and cared for me like I was your child. I owe you my life, Orochi-Kun. I will always do as you ask because I am your pet. You own me just as I own…" The words vanished. Yukie didn't know what she was going to say. The words were gone and Orochimaru knew it.

"Soon, you will remember your own pet. But in the mean time, remember, you are my pet. You do as I say and you never question me."

Yukie bowed her head again and looked at the shadowed floor, "I'm sorry, Orochi-Kun. I was wrong to contradict you. Why Kabuto takes his place, I will fly to his side."

Orochimaru nodded approval and concluded, "We are done."

The two raised their right hands to be level with their noses and formed the releasing jutsu. Orochimaru sank into the ground and the darkness that covered the room vanished into Yukie.

Once the room was back to normal, Yukie suddenly noticed the knocking at the door. Sakura was calling through it, "Yukie? Are you there? Can you hear me?"

Yukie opened the door and Sakura let out a sigh of relief, "I've been calling you for five minutes. What happened?" She saw that Yukie's eyes were once again black and bloodshot.

Yukie tried to think of a way to explain it, but couldn't. She just said the best she could come up with. "I don't know. Everything went black and it was like I was isolated from the rest of the world." It was the truth, just without Orochimaru.

Sakura seemed concerned, but didn't say so. Instead, she only said, "The other two are waiting. We'll talk about this later."

The four talked and hung out for most of the day. Once the sun began to set, Sakura let Senji and Kimoto leave, but told Yukie to stay back. She waited for the two to be out of sight and turned to Yukie, "What happened?"

"I don't know," she said, thinking through the lie she had thought up, "I was sitting here, you were talking about the picture, and everything went black. Next thing I knew, I was in the bathroom with you banging on the door."

Sakura fell into deep thought and Yukie wondered if she bought it. Finally, Sakura spoke, "Alright," she said thoughtfully, "Go ahead and go home. I'm going to have Kakashi and Gai see if they can find any traces of dark jutsus that could cause this."

"Oh," Yukie said slowly, wondering if they'd be able to trace her jutsu. "Well, I'll see you later then." She gave a last wave and left. She walked slowly back to Neji's house. He wasn't home, so she started making dinner for them. Sometimes, Neji would just be out training or something. If he wasn't going to be there for dinner, he would have left a note for her.

Once Yukie was almost done making dinner, she heard the door open, "Just in time!" she called across the house to Neji, "I just finished making dinner. Come on it, it's almost on the table." She poured the meal into two bowls and walked to the table. Down the hall, she could hear uneven steps coming into the kitchen. She placed the two bowls on the table and walked in the direction of the footsteps. Why was Neji limping?

"Yukie," Neji said in a barely audible voice. Blood ran form his mouth, kunai stuck out from the whole right side of his body; some in his arms, his side, and his leg. Yukie ran forward when she saw him sway. He fell forward and Yukie caught him in his fall awkwardly, and both fell to the floor. Both sat on the ground, Neji's head lay in her lap.

"What happened?" she asked, voice filled with concern.

"Run," he ordered, "You have to get out of here… they're after you."

"'They' who?" Yukie asked; she could feel somebody coming… somebody she knew.

"The Sound," he replied as a man with glasses and a hat like Tsunade's had that read Otokage entered the room.

Yukie rose defiantly and spat, "Kabuto, what are you doing?" It was more of a demand than a question. It was obvious Yukie had no respect for him. The rest of her memories came back once she laid eyes on this leech. Not only did she not respect him, she hated him to the bone.

"There's been a change of plans," Kabuto replied as two people came in behind him, "Orochimaru-Sama didn't have the chance to tell you. Move aside."

"I don't take orders from _you_, Kabuto." She said his name like it was a piece of bad meat she was spitting out.

"I am only doing as he commanded," Kabuto replied smooth, "Will you honestly go against Orochimaru-Sama?"

"I'm not going against Orochi-Kun," Yukie said defiantly, "I'm going against you." She stepped between Neji and Kabuto, "Now get out." Her voice was hard and commanding, filled with the hatred she had for Kabuto.

Kabuto seemed shaken, but held his ground, "You're outnumbered. I have these two on my side." He gestured to the two standing behind him.

"Numbers don't count for much if they're dead," Yukie threatened, concentrating her chakra, "If they want to attack me," her Bloodline Limit activated, "it's their funeral."

The two were shaken; it was obvious they didn't want to fight her. "Do not disobey me!" Kabuto snarled at the men, "You _will_ regret it. Orochimaru won't be happy." Apparently, they were more scared of Orochimaru than Yukie, because both drew swords and swallowed their fear.

"So be it," Yukie said in a deadly whisper, "I won't kill you both… but you will wish I had."

Neji watched as the Yukie he knew vanished in an instant. All feelings he knew were clouded by strength and hatred and the blood lust. When she spoke, her voice seemed darker; all humanity in her had disappeared. She had talked like she was a long partner or Orochimaru. He could see that even Kabuto, the Otokage, feared her. Was Orochimaru still pulling the strings? He had to tell Tsunade.

Yukie performed a jutsu, _Midnight's Light_, Neji was shocked; that jutsu was dark and forbidden everywhere. There was no doubt in Neji's mind now: she worked with Orochimaru. Darkness emanated from Yukie and covered the room. Light still came through, and everybody could see everything that happened in the next few seconds. Huge black spikes rose from the shadows, quick as lighting, and struck through the two men before they knew it was coming. One was hit right on, both his arms and legs were stabbed in the joints, he wasn't a threat anymore. The other had shifted, forcing two of the spikes to miss him completely. He twisted around to try to attack and Yukie let out a sigh. She blinked and seven spikes flew from below him and stabbed him through the back.

His partner's body went rigid; Neji turned away, but Yukie didn't even flinch. She watched without an ounce of feeling. She looked over at Kabuto as if she was saying, "told you so".

"Orochimaru-Sama won't be happy with you if you don't do as I say." Kabuto threatened.

"I don't care," Yukie replied calmly.

Kabuto looked around the room, trying to think of something else. Then his eyes landed on Neji and a smile crept across his face, "But what about _him_?" Yukie turned quickly and looked down at Neji; fear flooded into her face as she realized what he was saying. "He's heard us talking. He knows too much. He'll tell the Hokage. He's a liability we can't afford to keep alive."

Yukie paused, trying to think; she could help him, she could fix this, she just had to think of how… "Orochi-Kun wouldn't want us to kill someone with a Bloodline Limit; especially someone as powerful as _him_." Kabuto started to object, but Yukie pushed on, "I think we should bring him back with us."

"But we aren't going back," Kabuto objected, "We still need to start the takeover so Orochimaru-Sama can become Hokage."

Yukie's black eyes narrowed. "Fine, then, I'll just call Orochi-Kun now and ask him."

"No! Wait!" Kabuto reached out a hand, but it didn't help. It was too late.

Yukie had already performed the Shadow Summon jutsu and said in a voice that echoed through the room, "Orochi-Kun."


	6. Dealing with Neji

(A/N: alright. This one was lotsa fun cuz I got to be creative…. And there's more to come. I liked typing about the sound village… I really don't think they're as evil as Naruto makes them out to be. So I had to make 'em happy and care free and stuff. Don't worry, I'll make it seem more normal in the next few chapters. And, congrats, Sasuke fans…. I really _do_ have Sasuke here! -happy music- ya…. I'm one, too O.o)

Orochimaru's body rose from the ground slowly once again. Once the jutsu was complete, he eyed Neji, then turned to see Kabuto standing nervously behind him. Kabuto fell to the ground on one knee, but Orochimaru turned away before Kabuto could say anything. He looked at Yukie, who held his eyes strongly in hers. Kabuto had infuriated her and she was in no mood to play Orochimaru's pet.

He saw this, and addressed her as an equal, "What is it, Yukie?" he asked.

"Did you order Kabuto to attack Neji and seek me out, Orochimaru?" she returned, using his name forcefully.

Orochimaru shook his head, "The last orders I gave were for you to help when Kabuto began to leave," he turned to face the kneeling Kabuto, "Which should not have happened for some time."

Yukie's gaze also shifted to Kabuto, "As I thought."

"Rise," Orochimaru ordered Kabuto, "We will address this… _misunderstanding _later." He turned back to Yukie with a grim face, "Yukie, how much does he know?"

He was referring to Neji, and, pleased with Orochimaru's response to Kabuto, Yukie replied with renewed respect, "He knows of the plan and my alliances, Orochi-Kun."

"What do you recommend?"

"We should bring him back to our village. It could prove to our advantage."

Orochimaru nodded, "Very well, My Pet, you will bring him to the village immediately." The plan formed smoothly in Orochimaru's mind as he gave the orders, "Kabuto, report to Tsunade that you heard a shot while passing through and tried to come to his aid. A masked man performed a forbidden jutsu and killed one of you guards; the other," he nodded to the living man lying helplessly on the ground, "was greatly injured. Before you could take further action, he used another forbidden jutsu, you were blinded, and he took Yukie and the boy. Understand?"

He nodded and Orochimaru continued, "Yukie perform the masking jutsu now and leave with the boy. Kabuto, leave and report the crime to Tsunade right away." Both nodded and Yukie and Orochimaru moved in unison, releasing the Shadow Summon jutsu. Orochimaru vanished.

Yukie turned to Kabuto, "Don't screw up again, idiot."

"Or course not," he said in a sly voice, "I wouldn't want to disappoint Orochimaru-Sama's _pet_."

"Get out, Kabuto!" Yukie commanded, "You've been warned, now do as you're told!" With that, she performed a masking-shadow jutsu and darkness took over. With Yukie's bloodline jutsu still active, she could see Neji's body and knelt next to him. "I'm sorry for this," she whispered in his ear, "you weren't supposed to get sucked into this… You were supposed to be safe. Now, hold onto me so you don't get left to Kabuto." She pulled his arm around her and performed another jutsu; _Shadow Leap_.

Neji felt a pulling sensation and his insides did a flip as he felt his body jolt into new surroundings. Light blinded him as they settled into their destination. He saw they were on the skirts of a small village with a few scattered trees around them and a forest a few feet off. Yukie looked at the village, letting it all sink in. This was her home; her village. The sign of the sound was painted on the outer gate. Once Yukie laid eyes on it, she felt happy and whole for the first time in a long time.

On the outer wall stood a guard. He saw Yukie supporting Neji and leaned forward to get a better look. His rough features softened and his scowl became a grin once he recognized Yukie. "Yukie-Sama!" he called down, waving.

Yukie looked up and smiled, "Letto!" ahe called back, "It's nice to see you!"

"I never expected you to return so soon," Letto said happily as the gate was slowly raised.

"Well, here I am!" she called happily. She knew behind the wall stood the village's seven strongest men, putting all of their strength into raising the gate.

"I'll send a messenger to inform Sasuke-Sensei of your arrival," ge said as Yukie slowly walked through the gate while supporting Neji's weight.

"Thank you," she returned. When she saw the seven men holding the gate up, she nodded thanks, and they grinned back.

Neji watched all this happen and was surprised to see how happy the feared evil Hidden Sound Village was. Although they eyed Neji warily, some with malice even, they all regarded Yukie with joy; some actually calling her the gem of the village. And, although Neji had known about Sasuke's betrayal, and had really been a member to the retrieval team for him, he was shocked to hear Sasuke spoken of. He was even more shocked to see Sasuke in person.

He approached Yukie like they were old friends. The first thing he noticed was Neji; his arm still draped over Yukie. But he disregarded Neji, giving him neither a scowl nor a warm welcome. But Neji hadn't expected much; Sasuke _was_ a traitor. But aside from Sasuke's non-existent reaction to Neji, he didn't seem to have changed much. His outfit greatly resembled the one he wore in Konoha, only with a little more style of Otoga. He, of course, no longer wore the Leaf head protector, but the Sound head protector. He actually seemed more relaxed and happy now; though Neji didn't know if that was because of Yukie's presence or not.

The two stood in the street, chatting like old friends, hardly noticing the fatally injured Neji hanging onto Yukie for support.

Finally, Sasuke turned to Neji and asked Yukie, "What's with the extra weight?" Neji wasn't surprised to notice that, even when the conversation switched to him, he was still being disregarded by Sasuke.

"Orochi-Kun told me to bring him; he knows about the plan," Yukie replied in the same nonchalant tone she had been speaking to Sasuke in all day.

"We'd better get him to a healer," Sasuke said with a sigh, "He's bleeding all over the street." Neji found he was almost mad when he noticed Sasuke sounded more concerned about the street than Neji's health.

"Yeah," Yukie replied with a hint of concern for Neji, "I thought it would have stopped by now."

"If it was Kabuto's kunai that hit him, he won't stop bleeding for a while," Sasuke said conversationally as he took Neji from Yukie and supported him, "Kabuto puts a special jutsu on all his weapons. He'll keep bleeding either until he has no blood left, or until the counter-jutsu's performed."

"Do the healers know the counter jutsu?" Yukie asked in a worried voice as they walked down the street.

Sasuke shrugged, with some difficulty, and replied with a chuckle, "'Guess we'll find out, won't we?"

Yukie nodded, looking at Neji, eyes filled with worry.


	7. Alone in the Sound

(A/N: Mkay. Time for mega-climax-time! I jump around _a lot_ in this one… and fell kinda bad about it. Hope you guys don't get too terribly confused. But, on the bright side, I have lotsa hints who all the ANBU squads are in Konoha. I had fun planning out all the teams. Maybe some time I'll post them all for u guys…. But probly not till I finish. -and yes, I'm going to finish this one; I even have the ending planned out. It's just about 20somethin' chapters away-)

Yukie sat next to Sasuke, staring intently at the door the healers had brought Neji through. Sasuke looked over at Yukie. He could see how worried she was and reached over to take her hand.

"The healer said she could help him; I'm sure he'll be fine," Sasuke said, giving Yukie's had a small squeeze.

"I know," Yukie replied quietly, "But still…"

Sasuke's eyes softened, "He'll be fine." He whispered. Yukie closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

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Inside the room, two healers scrambled to find enough bandages. Another was performing a very complicated jutsu as another wrote a counter seal in black ink on Neji's side. They had been working for some time now; one performing the jutsu, one writing the seal, and the other two running errands.

Neji had been away the whole time; the cold ink in the air conditioned room made him shiver. All he was wearing were shorts, which weren't helping to keep him warm. When the healer sitting next to him had finished a stage of the jutsu, he pounded the ground in front of Neji and a sharp pain pulsed through his body. As all of this went on, Neji felt a great hate for Kabuto and a longing to kill the ninja.

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In the Hidden Leaf Village, Kabuto did as he was told. He ran back to Tsunade's office. She was sitting at her desk, and looked up when Kabuto came in.

Once she saw he was out of breath, she stood and asked, "Kabuto, what's wrong?"

"In the Hyuuga Clan," he said in a rushed breath as he took gasps of air to regain himself, "There was an attack. It was in the house where the new girl stayed. I was walking by with my guards when I heard the girl shout. A masked ninja stood in the room. The Hyuuga boy was hurt and bleeding badly; the girl was knocked out. The ninja attacked my guards then performed a masking jutsu. Once I could see again, he was gone with the girl and the boy."

Tsunade reacted immediately. "Thank you, Kabuto, you have done enough." She walked out and called to her secretary, and life-long friend, Shizune, "Get the head of the ANBU and his squad; I need to speak with them."

"Ibiki's here now, but his squad's investigating Sakura-Kun's house," Shizune informed her, "Apparently a dark jutsu was used on Yukie."

"Get Ibiki and an ANBU squad to Hyuuga Neji's house to investigate whatever happened there," Tsunade said after a moment's thought, "This could be linked to the happenings with Sakura. Get to the bottom of all this!" Soon after she gave her orders, Ibiki and Shikamaru's ANBU squad went to investigate Neji's house.

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Leon walked out of Orochimaru's home. Orochimaru had told him that Yukie had come home. She had only been gone a few weeks and the village had become extremely gloomy in that short time. Yukie truly was the gem of the Sound. She was strong, kind, and wise, not to mention Orochimaru's favorite. There was something about her that drew other people to her. Leon had been her partner for years and, although he had seen her weaknesses, she seemed almost invincible.

As Leon walked through the Hidden Sound Village, he saw how bright the village had become. There was no doubt now, Yukie really had come home.

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Neji sat up slowly; his whole left side ached and his arm and leg on that side could barely move. The front door was opened and Yukie calmly walked in. Sasuke stood next to her. Once she walked over the threshold, Sasuke fell back. All of the healers left, Yukie thanked each of them in turn as they passed. Once they had left, Sasuke closed the doors, leaving Yukie and Neji alone.

Her face of calm serenity melted and she quickly walked forward and knelt next to him, "Are you alright?" she asked earnestly. Neji just nodded. "Not in any pain?" she asked. He shook his head solemnly. Yukie's face changed into an expression Neji couldn't understand; a mixture between fear and shame and almost expectancy "Are you mad at me?" Her voice was quieter and shy.

"You betrayed my village," Neji said, his voice forced calm and level. "I took you into my home, taught you to fight, and helped you get your memory back. Once you remembered, you turned against me and the village. Tsunade did all in her power to help you, and you were willing to attack her and her home. Give me reason _not_ to be mad at you."

Yukie became desolate, "I saved your life." Her voice was a whisper, but still deadly with a hint of anger, "Kabuto could have killed you; Orochi-Kun could have sent you to your death, I protected you. You could have just bled to death." She stood and turned her back on him, walking to the door. Before opening it, she added, "Be grateful you're alive." Then she was gone. She closed the door behind her and Neji sat in the eerie silence of the room. He began to regret being so hard on her, but everything he said was right. He knew it. But as he sat in the silence, he realized how alone he was in this strange village. Yukie had been the only friendly face here… and now not even she was on his side. But it was too late to regret.

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Leon stood beside Sasuke when Yukie came out and closed the door behind her.

She saw Leon and smiled, "It's so good to see you," she said, giving him a friendly hug.

"I'm glad you're back," Leon said, looking Yukie in the eyes, "Orochimaru-Sama should never have sent you away. A lot has changed. We could have used your help when the Akatsuki attacked."

Yukie felt a pang in her heart. "So Talah really is dead."

Leon nodded slowly, "When did you find out?"

"At Konoha. The demon attacked."

Sasuke turned to her, "And you remembered then?"

Yukie nodded; it had only happened about a week ago, but it felt like much longer. The time she had spent in the Hidden Leaf Village seemed more like a dream -or a nightmare- and she was finally awake.

Sasuke took Yukie and Leon home. In Konoha, students lived with their sensei; teams lived together. The better they knew each other, the smoother missions and battles would go. They learned to predict each other's moves. All of their movements were fluid and teamwork was higher and came more naturally.

The house wasn't cramped, but it wasn't big, either. There were four moderate-sized bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. The kitchen had all of the necessities for cooking, but nothing fancy. The living room had a small TV that was almost never one, and a comfortable couch, used mostly for rest. The front door faced the center of the village (like all of the houses there did). The back door led to the forest for training (also like all the houses).

The village was small and simple. It was based in a circular arrangement, to make traveling around it easier. There was the center of the village, where all meetings took place. Next to that was Orochimaru's home and the central office next to that. Surrounding the village's center were stores for anything the ninjas would need. Scattered in between the stores were small homes for non-ninjas. Their life wasn't much worse than the ninjas; they just didn't have the abilities Orochimaru required. Instead of holding it against them, Orochimaru thought of a way to make use of them. Each non-ninja home was assigned two or three (depending on how many lived there) ninja houses to maintain. It was the non-ninja's job to make sure the houses they were assigned to remain clean. Chores must be done at least once each week to ensure cleanliness. Trash and groceries must also be monitored.

The reason for this system was to make sure the ninjas were not sidetracked by household chores. Their job was to train; become fighting machines. Orochimaru always told them they would never be strong enough to not train. He would tell them that they could always become stronger. That was why just beyond the stores sat the ninja's homes. Behind the homes was the forest. The forest was divided by a great wall; the village's boundaries.

Down the middle of the forest on the inside of the wall was a road. This road ran from the front gate to the center of the village and to the back of the village; cutting the village in half. The road branched off to go to each of the ninja's homes and again to go to each of the stores. The makeup of the village was simple enough, and easy to move through.

Yukie walked into her home and looked around; it had barely changed at all. She walked into a hall with three doors on each side. On the right was the girl's side; on the left was the boy's side. The first door on the right was Talah's room, then the bathroom, then Yukie's room. On the left was Sasuke's room, then the boy's bathroom, then Leon's room. As she passed Talah's room, she felt a pang of guilt; she hadn't been there for Talah, and now she was dead. Yukie was tempted to go into Talah's room, but decided against it; she really didn't want to see the inside without a cheerful Talah waiting for her. So instead, Yukie walked past Talah's room and into her own.

(A/N: PS. I made up the village layout. I haven't seen anything about Otoga… so I made it up. I like how I made it up… so if it's wrong…. Pretend it isn't.)


	8. Fighting in Konoha

(A/N: yeah. mega short chapter, I know. Don't worry, the next one is long and fun. And, you may not believe it, but I'm a Neji fan too. I'm sure y'all aren't too wild about wut I've done w/ him… but don't worry… it'll be okay. Hope y'all enjoy it an please RnR!)

Yukie lived in the Hidden Sound Village for about a month. She could finally deal with her own life. She didn't worry about anything outside of her village; why should he? Finally, after those past weeks of confusion and stress, Yukie was happy.

She trained daily with Leon, cooked for Sasuke and Leon, and visited Orochimaru often. Aside from Talah's death, everything was back to normal. Until two weeks after Yukie's arrival, Sasuke left without a word to his comrades. When Yukie asked Orochimaru, he merely smiled, "Upon Sasuke's arrival to the village, he told me he was only here for power. His one desire was to kill his brother, who had ruined his life. And, after waiting for so long, his brother, Itachi, came to this village with the Akatsuki and killed Talah. I told Sasuke to wait for the right moment to attack his brother. Doing it at the village would start a war between the Sound and the Akatsuki. Now is the right moment. Sasuke and Itachi will fight to the death. If Sasuke wins and returns, he will be welcome in my village. If he loses and survives, I will kill him personally."

Yukie accepted Orochimaru's explanation and went on for the rest of the month with Leon by her side. The two fought and trained together, but for some reason, Yukie could not unlock her full power. She didn't understand, but Orochimaru comforted her and told her that when it truly counted, she would be able to fight with all of her strength. Her style of fighting was just instinct; she couldn't call on it with a simple whim.

Once the month began to come to a close, Orochimaru called Yukie to him. He stood on elevated ground and Yukie kneeled in front of him, head lowered, left knee and right fist touching the ground. Orochimaru addressed her and she stood, but her eyes remained directed to the floor at his feet.

"My Pet," Orochimaru said calmly, "it is time for my plan to continue. I am glad you were able to stay in my village for so long, but it is time for you to return to Konoha. You must relay this story to Sakura. But be sure Tsunade is not near you… Your arrival will trigger the attack. Understand?"

"Yes, Orochi-Kun," Yukie replied in a desolate voice.

"Good. You must tell her this:" and he continued to tell Yukie his plan. Once everything was clean, Yukie transported herself through the shadows to the Hidden Leaf Village.

Yukie ran the few steps to the front gate and banged on it, shouting, "Open up! Please! Hurry!" Her voice was strained and tears speckled her cheeks.

Chouji opened the gate and stared at her, "Aren't you the girl who vanished?"

"Yes. I have to speak to Sakura." Yukie said, out of breath.

Chouji stared at her for another moment before leaving to get Sakura.

Yukie waited at the gate. She held her breath and tried to force out more tears. She saw Sakura coming and let out her breath. She gasped for a moment and more tears fell from her eyes. Her face contorted to extreme worry and she ran towards Sakura as she called out, "Sakura! Oh my gosh! Sakura!"

"Yukie?" Sakura said in a whisper, "how did you get back?"

Yukie slowed and stopped before her. Her voice was no longer a shout, but a whine. It was taught and shaky, "it was horrible! I didn't know what was happening. Everything went black and the next thing I knew, I was in a dark room. They fed us every once in a while, gave us water to drink and bathe in, but that was about all. It was so scary."

"What about Neji?" Sakura asked.

Yukie sniffed, "He was in the room with me, but he wouldn't cooperate, so they took him away… the men said he was killed…"

The two fell silent. Sakura thought hard; Yukie took on a tortured expression and whimpered every once in a while. Sakura's eyes focused back on Yukie and she forced herself to smile.

"I'm glad you're back," Sakura said in an unconvincing voice, "You can stay with me… but first we need to see Tsunade."

Panic washed over Yukie's face, but vanished in a second. "Sakura, wait!" she called. Sakura stopped and turned to face Yukie. There was an explosion and a giant snake emerged form the Hokage's office. "I'm sorry," Yukie said as all sadness faded from her face, "But you can't be getting in the way." She kicked high and Sakura's head jerked back. Yukie planted her foot back on the ground, spun on her heel, and the other foot flew into the air. It made contact with Sakura's temple and she flew sideways.

Her land was rough and Yukie was on her before she could gather her surroundings. Her feet lay on Sakura's arms and she was lightly perched on her stomach. "Well, that was easy," Yukie commented with a smile. Sakura stared up in shock, apparently unable to grasp the fact that Yukie was _against_ her.


	9. Brotherly Fight

(A/N: Sasuke and Itachi fans! It has arrived at last! That one fight everybody's been waiting for! Wow. Did I have fun with this or not. I swear, I didn't know the ending when I was typing it… it just kinda worked out like that.)

Sasuke leaned against a wall; for fear that his legs would collapse under him. He fought to pull more strength and chakra, but it was all spent.

Itachi walked toward Sasuke, his eyes hard, hiding the disappointment. "I am ashamed of you, little brother," his voice was strong and filled with malice, "This is the third time you've faced me, and the third time you've lost. You had the chance to get true power; to unlock the real Sharingan," he shook his head slowly, "but you did not. You let him be. Your hatred was not strong enough for you to kill your best friend. Your life's effort was not important enough for you to cast all away and succeed." He stopped, inches from Sasuke, "You are weak. You cannot be from my clan. You are no longer my brother. I will disown you by taking your life."

Sasuke closed his eyes. It could not end here, but he had no strength left to fight. He tried to build up chakra, but his neck began to burn. It was not supposed to come down to this, but he had no option left. He had to use it. It was his only choice. Sasuke forced himself to relax and the burning in his neck began to spread. It went all through his body.

Itachi took a cautious step back when he felt Sasuke's chakra begin to grow. Then black designs that looked similar to the Sharingan eye began to spread over his body. It started at his neck and spread to cover the left side of his body as far as Itachi could see. Then it spread to the right side of his body. As it spread, all of his injuries healed, without leaving a mark. Once his wounds were gone, a black pointed cross was formed on his face.

From that and the other designs, spread shadow. It spread until it covered his body. His hair grew longer and more pointed. His nails and lips were black and wings burst from his back. They looked more like giant, webbed hands sprouting form his back, once they took shape. But the most shocking of it all was Sasuke's Sharingan eyes. They weren't his normal Sharingan, but they weren't like Itachi's Sharingan either. They were different; abnormal.

Before Itachi could react, Sasuke rushed him with inhuman speed, his wings flapping once to add to it. Itachi tried to move out of the way, but he was too shaken. Sasuke bunched Itachi swiftly and thoroughly. Pain pulsed through his body. One final blow forced his legs to buckle. Itachi fell to his knees and Sasuke struck his head.

Itachi knew how dangerous it was to stay down when his enemy wasn't afraid to attack. He forced himself to his feet and managed to dodge another of Sasuke's string of attacks. But Sasuke eventually landed a blow against Itachi's chest. It impact was appalling and sent Itachi flying backwards. He knew it was over as Sasuke slowly lifted Itachi up; just as Itachi had done to him so long ago. This could not be Sasuke.

Sasuke looked Itachi in the eyes as the power of Chidori absorbed his free hand.

Itachi looked over at his brother; a half-smile light his face, his eyes full of pain, "Is that really you, little brother?" His voice was strained, almost tortured, "Is this tryly what you've become?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed threateningly, but Itachi continued, "This is not the power you seek; it is false." Sasuke tightened his grip, Itachi winced, but kept speaking, "I didn't do this to you." His voice was strong now as he asked, "Who was it?"

"Orochimaru," Sasuke replied, knowing Itachi would recognize the name, "He gave me this power; power greater than yours!"

Itachi was pained by Sasuke's words; this couldn't possibly be him, "What did they do to you? Why did you let him do this to you?"

"This is my power," Sasuke said proudly, "I have defeated you."

"No," Itachi said, shaking his head slightly, "This is not your victory. Orochimaru has _used_ you, little brother; why did you let him use you?"

Sasuke had had enough. He couldn't answer this question; it reminded him of what Anko had said once. Orochimaru had used her and discarded her; he would most definitely do the same to Sasuke. He didn't need lecturing from Itachi. "Shut up!" he shouted, the uncreative phrase shocking Itachi, "You're not my brother! Not anymore!" And with that last, defiant sentence, he shoved his hand, still holding Chidori, into Itachi's chest.

The Sharingan faded from Itachi's eyes, to perfectly reflect Sasuke's eyes when he was not fighting. Itachi's face contorted to reflect pain; but it was not the pain of the lightning edge piercing his body. Itachi took in a deep, steadying breath before speaking, "You were not-" he winced, but continued, "-supposed to become his." He tried to take another breath, to speak, but it stilled in his throat. His eyes faded; Sasuke would never see a pair like his again.

Sasuke took a step back from Itachi. The curse faded and Sasuke looked as he did before, except for the blood that stained his hands. Itachi fell to the ground. His forehead protector loosened and clattered on the ground before him. Itachi looked nothing like how Sasuke had thought he would. Through all of his dreams of killing Itachi and avenging his clan, Sasuke never imagined Itachi would look so _sad_. It was pathetic. Sasuke no longer held respect for his brother.

As Sasuke looked down at Itachi's body, blood covering him, hair askew, Sasuke realized just how misled he had been as a child. He realized how foolish it was for him to follow his big brother around and try to be like it. It disgusted Sasuke to think he had wanted to be like his weakling for the greater part of his life.

A few moments later, as Sasuke saw his ex-brother's body begin to stiffen, he realized he had formed the same relationship with Orochimaru. He respected Orochimaru; he wanted his strength; he wanted to be just like him. Sasuke decided something in that moment of realization. He would never depend on another person again. He would gain his own power and live his own life. He would not let such petty things as friendship and love get in his way. He would never follow another around again. He would become truly strong.

And Sasuke found out he knew just how he could accomplish this goal. Looking down at his empty ex-brother's body made Sasuke remember one thing. So he bent down and reached for Itachi's right ring finger, his eyes focused on the Kanji symbol for Shu -or Scarlet-.

((A/N #2: ok… for all u Itachi fans out there, I'm sorry, I had to kill him. It was the only way I could make my plot work. And I -as an Itachi fan myself- never believed that Itachi hated Sasuke. I wanted to do this lil blurb thing on Itachi being ashamed that his brother couldn't stop him w/ his own power cuz I have this horrible ability to like the bad guys more and find the good in them. -wow. That was a confusing sentence O.o- hope y'all liked it, whether u like the fact that Itachi's dead now or not, and please RnR!))


	10. Forbidden Jutsus

(A/N: Wow. This one was _fun_ to type. Just so y'all know… I was in a bit of a dark mood when I was typing the first lil half. When I get in a dark mood, all my bad guys have more fun and are more mocking. I like it, tho… it shows the difference easier. Hope y'all like it, too! Please RnR!)

Chouji brought Anko with him as he ran back to the place he had left Sakura. Panic rushed through him as he wondered if she was going to be okay. He had watched from a distance as Yukie had attacked Sakura. He left to tell Anko, his squad leader, of the attack. He would have told Tsunade, but the explosion and giant snake and slug had told him she must be busy.

Anko and Chouji stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Sakura had been pinned by Yukie.

Anko ran forward, calling out, "Sakura!" Yukie reacted quickly, performing a jutsu, _Hidden Snake Hands_. Four snakes came form Yukie's arm and shot towards Anko. Although she wasn't expecting it, she still managed to dodge it. As the snakes recoiled back to Yukie, Anko returned the same jutsu.

Yukie jumped back, leaving Sakura unattended. Yukie smiled maliciously as she looked across at Anko. When she spoke, her voice was nothing like it used to be. The shyness and insecurity was gone; to be replaced with mocking and hatred and undeniable strength. Her voice was like velvet, soft yet taunting, "So, you were taught by Orochi-Kun, too."

Anko didn't react; she just returned the comment with, "You must be Orochimaru's new favorite."

Yukie's eyes glittered and she replied threateningly, "That's me. Are you _jealous_, Anko?" Anko started and Yukie let out a mocking laugh before saying, "Oh yes, Orochi-Kun told me about you. He said you weren't a threat." She said the last part in an off-hand manner, but added with another malicious smile, "but you're foolish enough to risk anything for this pathetic village." Her eyes narrowed when she said, "Almost as foolish as Sandaime."

It struck a chord, as Yukie assumed it would, and Anko shouted, "Don't insult my Hokage!" Without thinking, she used Hidden Snake Hands again.

Yukie dodged, mocking laughter filling the air. Then she replied in the same mocking tone, "_Ex_-Hokage, you mean." Yukie performed a jutsu and directed it at Anko, _Shadow Hands_. Yukie's hands turned black and grew, and her fingers shot out at Anko.

She could barely match the speed and nearly got hit by the attack. Anko turned to Chouji and called, "Take Sakura, I can handle Yukie." Chouji nodded and ran toward Sakura.

"No you don't!" Yukie said to Chouji. She performed her summoning jutsu, _Shadow Summon_; however, instead of saying Orochimaru's name, she said something else, "Kotori, come to me, _My Pet_." Yukie's shadow seemed to get darker, and then a small black cat came out of it. "Keep them away from Sakura," Yukie ordered. Kotori replied with a quiet meow and bounded to Sakura.

Chouji, un-frightened by the small kitten, knelt by Sakura's side; she had been knocked out with some jutsu. Kotori's fur stood on end and she leapt forward to attack Chouji. In mid-leap, she grew about four times her size by using a jutsu, _Night's Beast_. Kotori knocked Chouji over, now bigger than him. Chouji shouted in terror and scrambled to get out of the way of Kotori's retracting claws.

Yukie battled Anko, both performing forbidden jutsus and dodging the other's attacks. Both threw caution to the wind, to fight an exhilarating battle to the death.

Chouji managed to get out from under Kotori and the two were now brawling. As Chouji fought the huge cat, he wished his other teammate, Neji, had not gone and vanished right before an attack on Konoha.

* * *

Neji sat quietly in his cell. He had to be patient. He couldn't be reckless. This had to be flawless. He had overheard the guards talking about attacking Konoha. If he timed this right, he could get out in time to help his village.

Today his food would come. He would attack the guard, eat to build his strength, and run to his village's aid. Sure enough, in walked the guard with a plate of food. He placed the food before Neji and turned to leave. Neji jumped to his feet and attack the guard using his Byakugan sight and a special combo technique, _Divination Field, 32 Strikes_. Each strike hit its mark and the guard was out cold.

"Weak," Neji said with a small shake of his head. He ate the meal and left his dark prison at a run. If he restrained himself and was careful, he would be in the forest in no time at all.

Neji managed to escape, having to face only one other guard, who went down easily. That scared him; Orochimaru's ninjas must have already left for Konoha. He ran at top speed through the forest, crossed a rickety bridge over the Valley of the End. He saw a hole in the side of a cliff there, and knew this was where Naruto and Sasuke fought years ago. Across the bridge, Neji was in Fire Country land; he was almost to his village. If he hurried, he may be able to overtake Orochimaru's large group of ninja. With such great numbers, they wouldn't be able to move as quickly as Neji. He may actually make it to the Hidden Leaf Village in time to warn the others.

That thought was dashed when he saw smoke rising from the village, only a few feet way. A huge snake reared into the air as a slug, equally large, rammed into it. Neji used his Byakugan to see Tsunade on the slug and Kabuto on the snake. Hatred faired in Neji when he saw Kabuto perform a deadly forbidden jutsu. That traitor had fooled two Hokages; and could quite possibly be a great reason for both of their murders. But Tsunade managed to block the attack and Neji knew he couldn't waste more time. Apparently, Orochimaru hadn't arrived yet, but some spy ninjas were located in the village.

Neji remembered Yukie, and another wave of hatred flew through him when he saw, right at the entrance, the battle. Chouji was fighting a cat the size of a large horse, and losing horribly. Anko and Yukie were flinging jutsu after jutsu at each other; all forbidden; all deadly. The two almost seemed equally matched, but Anko was tiring fast, and Yukie was laughing maniacally and mocking Anko's attempts. Sakura lay unconscious in the center of all of this. She was unhurt, except for a huge bruise slowly appearing on her temple. Neji ground his teeth. He had to help.


	11. Joining the Akatsuki

(A/N: well, this one was interesting for me. I didn't really know at first how to go about the Akatsuki cuz about half of them are unknown -as far as I know-. So I just kinda winged it. Hope I did ok w/ this… O.o;; and if not, I hope u enjoy it neway. Please RnR.)

Sasuke walked through a forest he had never been in before. Although he seemed calm, his heart was pounding as he retraced Itachi's steps. This was the path to power, he knew it. Itachi had become strong in the Akatsuki; so why shouldn't Sasuke, Itachi's killer, be accepted into the group as well? He was strong enough to kill a member, so why should they let him in? _But if they don't_, Sasuke thought, his hand clenching, ring glinting in the light, _I'll kill them all._

But Sasuke shook his head, trying to keep the thought out of his mind. He had become bloodthirsty; a monster that wanted nothing more than to kill. He couldn't become like this, it was too dangerous. _Besides,_ he thought, _they won't turn me down._ That thought lingered in his mind as he reached the end of Itachi's trail.

A huge rock cliff was before Sasuke. He looked up at it and knew there was no way Itachi had come from up there. Suddenly, Sasuke sensed a presence behind him and spun around just in time to see a man that had a huge cocoon-looking plant over his head rising from the ground. When he was finally standing firmly on the ground, the plant split to reveal a face that was half black and half white. He wore the Akatsuki cloak and on his right pinky finger, the ring with the symbol Kai (or boar) glinted.

He took a moment to eye Sasuke. As shaken as he looked, the Akatsuki member knew he was strong. "What do you want, boy?" he asked, taking no time for polite behavior or introductions.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I came to tell you my brother by birth, Uchiha Itachi, is dead. I killed him. I have his ring and his headband," Sasuke lifted up the headband, also showing off the ring he wore on his right ring finger. "If you want more proof, his body is in the abandoned building down that path."

The Akatsuki member seemed uninterested in Itachi's body. Instead, he looked at Itachi's ring that Sasuke now wore. "That does not answer my question," he finally replied, "What do you want?"

"I want to be a member of the Akatsuki so that I can become stronger and travel on my own path."

"You think being apart of the Akatsuki means you can travel your own path?"

"It means I will have the freedom to choose my own way. You are not bound by your organization, you thrive in it. People who live in villages and train as groups and learn to fight for their village are bound by that village and its ideals. You are not."

He eyed Sasuke again, "Such wise words for such a young boy. My name is Zetsu. You will call me Boar. I will take you to our leader and he will decide if you may join or not."

Sasuke nodded and followed Zetsu. He went to the wall, performed a jutsu that Sasuke couldn't follow, and the cliff opened. Zetsu walked into the cliff and Sasuke followed. Inside, Zetsu was confronted by Kisame, a man with a huge sword and a strange appearance. Sasuke remembered him when Itachi went to get Naruto. Of all the Akatsuki, Kisame would either be the happiest or the modest, depending on what side of Itachi he had seen and gotten to know.

"Why is _he_ here?" Kisame demanded, not giving a second look at Sasuke.

"He's killed Itachi, and therefore is offered Itachi's rank and a place among the Akatsuki," Zetsu replied calmly.

"Hi killed Itachi?" Kisame asked, finally looking over at Sasuke. Kisame's voice held shock, but aside from that, Sasuke couldn't read his emotions.

Zetsu nodded, "He's requested a position with us, so I am bringing him to the leader."

Kisame nodded in reply and moved to the side so Zetsu and Sasuke could pass. Sasuke didn't look at him, but kept his eyes concentrated on what was ahead of him. Although Sasuke wasn't looking at him, he could feel Kisame behind him, following him. Sasuke forced himself not to react or turn around, but he didn't much like the idea of having Kisame at his back.

Further down, Sasuke saw two others of the Akatsuki sitting on two rocks. The light wasn't very good, and he couldn't see their features, but he could hear them speaking.

"Look what Zetsu's got," the one on the left said, pointing at Sasuke.

"Wonder what the kid did," The other replied thoughtfully.

A third jumped down and perched next to him, "For what I heard, he killed Scarlet."

"That _runt_ killed Itachi?" The first asked in shock.

The third one just shrugged, "That's what I heard." He turned to look at Sasuke, and then tensed when he realized Sasuke had been listening. The conversation died quickly as all three watched him pass.

Sasuke could have sworn he had heard their conversation continue once Sasuke was out of earshot. He heard Kisame behind him let out a gruff laugh.

"They may gossip, but they're not stupid," Kisame said to Sasuke, "they know when somebody's eavesdropping; especially North. He knows about almost anything around him. And a word of advice," Kisame added before Sasuke could speak, "You're new here. If the leader lets you in, you address us by our rings first. Unless given permission, address up by our rings. You will be Scarlet. I'm South, Zetsu's Boar. This keeps others from tracking us by name and knowing who we are." Sasuke nodded, not saying a word.

As the three walked in silence, Sasuke began to wonder if Kisame was upset about Itachi's death. All of the Akatsuki were so good at hiding their true feelings. Sometimes Sasuke could tell when they were impressed or shocked, but the more important emotions that allowed him to predict and judge them seemed almost non-existent. Maybe, some day, Sasuke would learn this same important skill. But now, he felt like an open book for everybody to read.

"What's that you've brought, Boar?" Somebody asked, bringing Sasuke back from his thoughts. The one that had spoken was a boy that looked younger than Sasuke. His skin was fair and his blue eyes and blond hair seemed to complete the look of undeniable perfection and beauty.

A blond woman stood next to him. Her hair was combed over her left eye and she wore a crossed out headband of the rock village. She looked at Sasuke with a crooked grin and said, "Yeah, yeah, who is he?"

Zetsu opened his mouth to reply, but stopped and looked past the two. A tall man with an air of power and demanding attention stood behind them. Sasuke had no idea when he had come in or how he could have missed it. All he knew was this was the man he had come to see: the leader of the Akatsuki.


	12. Yukie and Juuken Ryu

(A/N: Well, talking about the fights was actually pretty fun. Kinda hard. But still fun. I really enjoyed doing this one. I tried not to get into detail too much, cuz I end up confusing people… which isn't very fun. So I hope y'all enjoy it and please RnR)

Yukie concentrated a great amount of chakra in her legs and hurled herself into the air. Anko flung an attack at the same time, but Yukie was too quick. Anko knew if this kept up much longer, she was done for. There was only one way to end this; by killing both of them. Luckily, Yukie landed right by the entrance wall. Taking advantage of this, Anko threw several shuriken at Yukie. Before she could regain herself, Yukie found she was pinned to the wall behind her.

One shuriken was painfully stuck in her left elbow, dislocating it at the joint. Another two were deeply plunged into the top part of her right shoulder and a little lower in her armpit. Two shuriken pinned her to the wall by scraping her sides above the waist and clipping flesh. And for the finishing touch, one shuriken maimed on each side of her neck to keep her from moving.

Anko was at her side in the blink of an eye. "It's time to finish this," Anko said in Yukie's ear before beginning the jutsu. She took Yukie's left hand, knowing Yukie couldn't use it because of the shuriken, and performed a jutsu using Yukie's hand, _Double Snake Assassination_.

* * *

Kotori drew back for the final blow but stopped when she smelled her mistress' blood. Out of the corner of her eye, she also saw the boy who called himself Neji running to the other human's aid. Kotori stood her ground, pinning the fat human below her. Neji leapt to attack Kotori and she jumped back and performed _Shadow Leap_. Behind her, darkness grew and seemed to swallow her. Instead of landing on Kotori, Neji found himself tackling Chouji. He cursed under his breath and jumped to his feet, searching for the cat. What he saw almost stopped his heart.

Across the make-shift battlefield, where Yukie was pinned, Anko was in the process of completing a forbidden ninjutsu that would kill both the girls. Yukie was bleeding badly and had no hope of escaping, until the huge black cat leapt from the shadows and pounced on Anko, claws out and teeth bared. Things seemed to move in slow motion as Kotori latched onto Anko with her razor sharp claws. Yukie pulled herself from the wall with a series of sickening cracks and a cry of pain, quickly silenced. Neji moved before he knew what he was doing, determined to help Anko. Kotori lurched forward, mouth open, ready to sever Anko's head. Yukie jumped forward to intersect Neji, although bother her arms were incapable of moving. But, before any damage could be done to any of the four ninjas, Orochimaru arrived with his army of Sound ninjas.

Leon came from the group of ninjas riding a huge two-tailed wolf. He jumped from the white wolf's back and slid into place between Yukie and Neji. Once Neji made eye contact, he found he couldn't move, trapped in a genjutsu; _Paralyzing Glare_. The wolf ran to the side and yipped at Kotori. The cat stopped and looked over at the wolf, which yipped again. Kotori seemed almost to sigh as she turned back to Anko. Instead of biting her head off, Kotori used a jutsu, _Night's Sleep_. It was the same jutsu Yukie had used on Sakura and Anko was asleep in moments.

Leon turned to the two-tailed wolf and called, "Good job Koton. Let's go. Good luck Yukie and Kotori." Yukie nodded and Leon jumped back onto Koton's back and led the way as the Sound Ninjas invaded Konoha.

Yukie took advantage of Neji's current condition to heal herself with a jutsu, _Healing Shadows_, and smiled at him as her body slowly healed back to normal. "I want this fight to be fair," she explained, "You've never fought the real me. Luckily, I've fought the real you. In the meantime," she turned to the cat that now stood next to her, "My Pet, it appears that fat oaf has run off with our back-up hostage. Be a dear and fetch them for me?" Kotori seemed to nod and ran off in the direction Chouji had fled when Kotori had been preoccupied by Anko.

* * *

Two minutes passed as Yukie stood, ready to fight but still healing and Neji waited for his body to move again. Neji flexed one of his hands, happy to find it was beginning to cooperate. Yukie sighed blissfully as the shuriken that had been embedded into her left arm finally fell out and the wound closed. Yukie looked over at Neji when she saw him take a wary step toward her.

"Take your time, Neji," Yukie said as she stretched her newly healed limbs, "I'll wait until you're ready. Like I said earlier, I want this fight to be fair. You don't have to push yourself so much."

"Enough talk!" Neji shouted, activating his Byakugan and standing in ready position for Juuken Ryŭ style fighting.

Yukie smiled, activating her own bloodline limit jutsu. "Hasty, hasty," she mused as she performed a jutsu, _Shadow Hands_. Only, this time, instead of her now black fingers flying out to attack, her hands and fingers merely turned black. She also situated herself so that she was standing in a ready position that greatly resembled Neji's Juuken Ryŭ stance. "Now, I want to fight you at your full potential," Yukie said in a relaxed tone, smile wide and threatening, "So let me remind you that if you lose, I will take advantage of it and destroy your whole village. You once told me that it was your duty to protect your village." Her black eyes narrowed, her stance strengthened and she said in a dark voice, "So protect it."

Yukie rushed Neji and as soon as her first chain of attacks was released, he instantly regretted teaching Yukie the little he had on Juuken Ryŭ. She had learned a very different style of fighting before Neji had taught her. Her style was surrounded around physical ability and her strength in aerobatics. Her attacks involved her twisting and turning, ducking and leaping, and used an assortment of hand and foot centered attacks. This made predicting her attacks almost impossible. Yukie's bloodline limit eyes were a lot like the Hyuuga Clan's; she could see chakra in people. It wasn't as distinct or detailed at Byakugan, but she could find the general place where the chakra was centered.

Unfortunately, Neji had decided to use this as a starting place for teaching her Juuken Ryŭ. She combined her unpredictable style with Juuken Ryŭ, throwing Neji completely off guard. But he told himself not to show restraint. She was the enemy and would take advantage of every chance she got. He could not be afraid to do the same. He _could _do this. He _had_ _to_ do this.


	13. The Use of Death

(A/N: mkay, so if ne of u notice, the relationship between Yukie and Orochimaru is _a lot_ like the relationship between Haku and Zabuza -it's in the first season… first big fight… 'member them?-. but I got bored w/ copying the same ol' thing. So I changed it around a lil at the end. So here's the main turning point. From here on, I'll jump around even more and it'll get more confusing till the end yay almost there! Hope ya'll enjoy it and please RnR)

As Tsunade's summon rammed the snake head on, she felt the impact shake the ground. Tsunade took advantage of this moment to leap at Kabuto. He had lost his balance, and was knocked off the snake by Tsunade's blow. The two summons vanished and Tsunade pinned Kabuto to the wall.

"How _dare_ you attack my village," Tsunade spat in a deadly, low voice, "You've attacked me twice now, but this time, you won't leave with your life. You fight for Orochimaru, thinking he actually _cares_ about what happens to you. Let me tell you something: he doesn't. He doesn't care about anybody. He would betray and destroy everything in the world if it meant he would have power."

"If I help Orochimaru-Sama, he will help me," Kabuto replied, his voice barely a gasp because of Tsunade's iron grip on his neck, "I will continue to be useful to him and he will keep me with him."

"What happens when your usefulness has run out?" Tsunade asked, her eyes narrowing.

"I will kill him." Orochimaru replied. He stood at the place where the door once was. The rubble that surrounded him greatly resembled Tsunade's office. "That seems to be coming much sooner than I expected," he said, eyeing Kabuto, "I hoped you wouldn't have been defeated so soon. But I suppose, as long as I am here now, no harm's done."

Tsunade turned to Orochimaru. "How many people did you send into my village as spies?"

Orochimaru shrugged in reply, "Kabuto and his people."

"What about Yukie?" Tsunade demanded, "Is she yours, too?"

"Why, yes, she is," Orochimaru replied slyly.

"What if I had figured it out?" Tsunade asked, looking off into the distance.

Orochimaru shrugged again, "As long as she serves her purpose."

"So her death would mean nothing to you?"

"Whether she lived or died, she would still be a contribution to my goal," Orochimaru replied coolly, "The village loves her. They would only fight harder to avenge her death."

Tsunade focused her vision behind Orochimaru, "You heard that, Yukie? Orochimaru doesn't care if you die. He's just using you."

Yukie nodded solemnly, "I heard. My life isn't important to him." Orochimaru reached out a hand to Yukie and she came toward him. She stopped beside him and the hand he offered wrapped around her waist. It wasn't a show of affection, Tsunade realized with some disgust, it was a show of ownership. "I know his purpose for me. I owe Orochi-Kun my life. I will always do as he asks, because I am his pet. He owns me, just as I own Kotori. This is the nature of a ninja and the nature of the world. Everybody has a purpose. Everybody's purpose has to do with another person. I understand that." She was absent-mindedly petting Kotori, who now sat on her shoulder in her smaller form.

Orochimaru smiled wickedly, "Well said, My Pet, it is comforting to see you remember."

Tsunade's control escaped her as she saw what Orochimaru had done to Yukie. "You sick bastard. How can you do this to this child? She has been in my village for only a week and I could see her free spirit. How can you take a girl like her and make her into… this?" She gestured to the emotionless doll Yukie was.

"The child you knew never existed," Orochimaru replied angrily, "It was all an act, a fake. Yukie was never a child, she was never innocent, and she was always _mine_. I will always have a use for such a girl." Then Tsunade turned back to Yukie, who almost seemed proud of how Orochimaru talked about her. "Speaking of which, My Pet, would you be so kind as to dispose of Kabuto for me? He has become sickeningly pathetic."

Yukie left Orochimaru's side to stand before Kabuto. It was evident that she hated him, and would gladly kill him.

Tsunade was desperate; she may not like Kabuto, but she didn't want Yukie to kill him. She didn't know why, but it raised a red flag in her mind. "Do you do this to all of your partners?"

Yukie pulled a kunai from her side pouch as Orochimaru chuckled, "When a person becomes useless, there is no reason for them to remain. The only other course is death. For some, they are more useful in death than in life."

Yukie reached down and yanked Kabuto to his feet. Tsunade thought quickly and asked, "Is that what you did to the child who had the Phoenix Demon?" Yukie hesitated, attention suddenly on Orochimaru and his upcoming reply.

"Talah had many uses," he said, picking his phrasing carefully, "I didn't want her to die. But when the Akatsuki came, Sasuke was once again motivated to get his brother out of the way. Her death gave the village a blood lust that only your village could sate. The demon inside of her even went to attack Konoha." Yukie had turned to face Orochimaru when he added, "I must admit, she was much more useful in her death than in her life."

"Damnit, Orochimaru!" Yukie shouted, stalking toward him.

"Now, now," Orochimaru said calmly, "Don't forget Kabuto, My Pet. You can not possibly want him to live."

Without looking back at Kabuto, Yukie flung the kunai and hit him square in the chest. She continued forward until she was inches from Orochimaru. "It's because of _you_ that Talah's dead!"

"I did nothing," Orochimaru replied, his voice rising, "Talah chose to kill herself. We rose to fight for her but she wouldn't allow it."

"Yeah, like I'll ever believe _that_," Yukie said angrily, "She would never have given herself so easily. You knew her death would provoke the village! You killed her!" Yukie shouted, her eyes turning black.

"Come to me, My Pet," Orochimaru said, holding out an arm for her, "You don't understand. Come to me."

"Now," Yukie said, taking a step backward, "I'm not yours; not anymore." The room was engulfed in shadow and Yukie vanished.

Once she and Kotori were gone, the shadows disappeared. Orochimaru stood, staring at the place Yukie stood only seconds before. But he covered his shock quickly and turned to Tsunade, eager to fight off his anger.


	14. Memories

(A/N: Sasuke's turn again! And I get to explain about the Akatsuki. Once again, most of it I already knew… but if I got something wrong, go ahead and let me kno and I'll change it. This one was kinda fun. I'll never let Sasuke completely forget Itachi, no matter how dead I made him. Please RnR and enjoy!)

Sasuke sat in a room Kisame had brought him to. It was Itachi's room; Kisame didn't have to tell him, he just knew. The room had no decoration, nothing of any characteristic. On a small wooden desk, Sasuke saw various weapons sprawled about. When Sasuke went through his desk, he found more weapons and tools. None of it surprised him; Itachi was connected to his work. He loved to fight. But as Sasuke dug through Itachi's belongings, he found something that did shock him: a picture.

A small smile spread across Sasuke's face as he looked at the dusty picture. It was old, filled with memories of a time much simpler than the one Sasuke lived in now. Sasuke remembered the day that picture was taken fondly. Itachi had been happy then. He agreed to take Sasuke out to train with him. Itachi hit every target, when Sasuke didn't hit any. But, back then, Sasuke didn't mind as much. He actually ended up hurting his ankle. Itachi laughed, telling Sasuke he would get better soon. Then he carried Sasuke on his back home.

After that, Itachi's rank went up and he stopped training with Sasuke. That day had been one of the last days Sasuke had seen his brother smile or laugh. It also marked one of the last days Sasuke had smiled for real or truly been happy. After that, Itachi ruined everything. Sasuke knew he would never be able to think of his brother fondly again, whether he was dead or not.

Although Sasuke still hated Itachi, even after his death, Sasuke couldn't bring himself to throw the picture away. It was a symbol of a time that was easier and happier. Sasuke couldn't throw away such a memory, like it meant nothing to him. Something told Sasuke that Itachi couldn't throw it away, either. He put it back in the bottom of the desk, where he had found it. It would gather dust again, but it wouldn't be forgotten. Some day, he may look at it again. To remember a time when he had a brother, and actually loved him.

* * *

There was a knock at the door and Sasuke turned, calling, "Enter."

"Zetsu opened the door and walked in, "The Hidden Leaf Village was attacked shortly after your arrival. It didn't concern us until now. Konoha's ally, the Sand ninjas, are on their way to aid them. They will get to the village by tomorrow. As it is, Konoha is losing to the Sound. If Orochimaru wins, he will have all of Konoha under his control. Many of the villagers have moved over to Orochimaru's side already. Those that haven't are being massacred. Their specially trained ninjas are fighting with all of their strength, but are becoming outnumbered. They won't last much longer."

Sasuke sighed; he didn't want to hear this. "What does it have to do with us?"

Zetsu bowed his head slightly, acknowledging that Sasuke was of higher rank. "Well, Scarlet," he took a steadying breath, "Orochimaru has a proposition for us."

"I will _not_ work for Orochimaru," Sasuke said suddenly, his voice rising a little.

"Short temper, yeah, yeah," Deidara said, coming up behind Zetsu.

"Turquoise," Zetsu said, turning and bowing his dead.

"Zetsu," Deidara replied in a dismissing tone, inclining her head slightly. Deidara only held respect for the leader. She was of higher rank than everybody else. She had everybody but Zero and her partner, Sasori, call her by her ring, Turquoise. Below Deidara was White, one of the more mysterious members who worked with North. After him was Sasuke, who had been paired with Kisame. Below Sasuke was Zetsu, who worked with Three, a very quiet ninja. Below him was supposed to be Orochimaru, but he left and was never replaced. After Orochimaru were Kisame, then North, Three, and Sasori. The leader, who most called Zero, used to work with Orochimaru, but claims he prefers to work alone.

Deidara turned to Sasuke, "What's the matter, boy? Don't like Orochimaru?"

"He used me once," Sasuke said with a small bow to show respect, "I won't let him do it again."

"Orochimaru likes using people, yeah, yeah. But he doesn't use us. We used him once, he wouldn't threaten us by trying to use us," Deidara replied shortly, "Helping him helps us, yeah, yeah. With Konoha out of the way, we can take down the other Hidden Villages. The war is still here, yeah, yeah. Can't be avoided, just used to our advantage."

Sasuke sighed and shook his head, "I don't want to work with Orochimaru."

Deidara shrugged, "Then leave." A half smile appeared on her face as she looked across at him, "We're going. Zero has decided. If you don't come, I'll kick you out and take your hands off, too." As Deidara said this last part, her smile turned wicked. She obviously wouldn't mind varying out her personal punishment of cutting a ninja's hands off.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, forcing himself not to think about Deidara's blade slicing through his wrists. "Fine, I'll go," he replied, not looking at Zetsu.

"Good boy," Deidara replied mockingly. She nodded to the two ninjas and left, the bloodthirsty smile still on her face.

Zetsu forced a small smile, trying to be remotely nice to the newcomer. "Don't mind Turquoise. She's all talk; she only acts when the leader tells her to. Most of the others here are pretty nice, too. We don't need friends, but somebody to talk to is always nice." He shrugged, "If you need anything, I'm always open. I'm sure South wouldn't mind either."

Sasuke nodded, "Thanks" Zetsu left Sasuke to his thoughts, which traveled to Orochimaru, then to Yukie. He had left her without a second thought. He had assumed he would return to her and Orochimaru once he killed Itachi. What in the world had convinced him to abandon Yukie? Yes, he had depended on Orochimaru and obeyed him without hesitation. But Yukie had made it all seem better. Her aura drew others to her and she comforted them. Her very presence could make somebody feel welcome. But surely she was happy now, even without Sasuke beside her.


	15. Falling from the Path

(A/N: ok, just so y'all kno. When I did this first lil part, I was sitting in my dark, dark room, listening to some sad song… See… music influences me. So it's kinda overdramatic. But that's ok… Right? Newho like I said in the last ch. Big turning point. Where will they end up? I'm sure u'll love to see the ending. Hope u enjoy and please RnR)

Yukie fell to the ground, an anguished cry seeping from her lips. She was almost out of chakra, every move she made hurt. The forest around her was destroyed. She had taken her anger out on her surroundings, and was now out of anger and energy. Yukie bowed her head, resting her head in her hands, and closed her eyes.

"How did this happen?" Yukie asked herself, "Why did I let this happen?" Kotori had gone off on her own, feeling slightly unsafe around an angry Yukie. Sitting on the forest floor, more alone than she had been in years, Yukie finally felt it all sink in. She felt her control collapse. Everything was ruined. She had nothing left. No friends, nobody who cared. Nothing left. The words lingered in her mind as a tear rolled slowly down her cheek. Everything was ruined.

Yukie's body tensed and her head snapped up when she heard something behind her. Before she could rise and confront the intruder, Kotori nuzzled against Yukie's arm. She let out the breath she didn't realize she was holding. Kotori looked up at Yukie's tear filled eyes and mewed quietly.

Yukie forced herself to smile, "Hey, Kotori." The small black cat pushed herself under Yukie's arm to sit on her lap. She looked up at Yukie again, seeming to smile, and meowed encouragingly. "I now, Kotori," Yukie said, wiping the tears from her eyes, "I can just be such a fool some times." Kotori shook her head and meowed again as her tail twitched. "It is too my fault," Yukie said, looking at the cat in frustration, "I didn't even let Orochi-Kun explain. I just jumped to conclusions." Kotori's tail twitched again and her ears flattened against her head. Yukie sighed in reply and said, "I know he isn't Orochi-Kun to me anymore… but old habits die hard."

"So you really did leave for good," Leon said, standing behind her. "I didn't know whether to believe it or not… I guess I didn't _want_ to believe it, even after Kotori told Koton." Yukie turned to look at Leon and Koton, now a small white puppy on his shoulder. "But… are you okay with it?" he asked cautiously.

Yukie didn't want to lie to him, and she didn't know how long he had been listening. "I'll be fine," she assured, knowing it would satisfy him enough that he wouldn't push the matter.

Leon sighed, walking over and sitting next to her, "What are you going to do now?"

Yukie shrugged and said, "My whole life was to help Orochi-Ku-um Orochimaru." She would never call him Orochi-Kun again. "I've never really had anything else. I suppose I'm just going to find my own place in the world."

Leon looked at her skeptically. "So, what, you're just going to become a wandering ninja?"

Yukie shrugged again, "There's nothing wrong with being a ronin. It actually sounds pretty relaxing. No worries, just wandering around, doing as you please. Who _wouldn't_ want that?"

"Wouldn't you get lonely?" Leon asked.

"As long as I have Kotori, I'll be fine."

"Having a familiar with you is great and all," he hesitated, but pressed on, "but what about humans? Wouldn't you miss having human friends?"

Yukie smiled knowingly at Leon, "I have _you_ as a human friend, don't I? I'll come and visit some time. Orochimaru can't keep me out of his village, whether he gets Konoha or not."

Leon sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, "You really are going to leave, aren't you?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Yukie returned, face hardening, "I'm not going back to Orochimaru."

"Why not!" Leon demanded desperately, "What did he do that was so horrible, anyway?"

"You didn't hear him!" Yukie shouted, losing control again. "He was talking about Talah's death like it meant nothing to him! It was like he was happy she was gone! He said it helped him, that she was more useful to him dead. He talked about her as if she were some toy, something he used and threw away! He talked about her like she was… like she was…" Yukie sniffed back the tears she felt coming.

"Like she was you," Leon finished for her, his voice grave. "It scared you to see that you weren't the only one he used regularly."

"He killed her to help himself," Yukie said, voice now faint and weak, "I was willing to die to help him, and he wouldn't have cared less that I was gone. We were all his tools. He used us all until we couldn't be used anymore. Then he killed us."

"Just like how you killed Kabuto," Leon added, voice just as quiet as Yukie's, "We were his tools. All ninjas are tools. You used to be fine with that, but something happened to you. You changed your mind and decided you didn't want to be used anymore."

Yukie sighed, "When did it happen? When did I change so much that my whole outlook on life was altered so dramatically?"

"Konoha changed you," Leon replied, holding Yukie's gaze in his, "They showed you a side of being a ninja you had never known, or even thought of before."

Nodding, Yukie elaborated, "Everybody was so carefree. They were all happy and smiling. Not the kind of smile you get in Otoga, but something true and joyful. At first, I thought they couldn't possibly be ninjas. But they were. They all fought to protect their village and the loved ones. They were more like real people than tools."

"It's something like that that will change a ninja. They probably think twice about their own ways when they see ours. Maybe they wonder why they don't train as much or aren't as strong as us. Different ways and points of view affect people… it just affected you more.

"Then you understand: I can't go back to Orochimaru."

Leon gave a quick nod and replied, "And you understand that I won't leave you."

Yukie's brain stalled for a second. She hadn't been expecting this. All she could think to say was, "What?"

"I'm coming with you," he replied stubbornly, "If you are leaving Orochimaru, then I have no desire to stay with him. Think about it, I was miserable until I met you, Sasuke and Talah. Talah's dead, I'm pretty sure Sasuke-Sensei isn't coming back, and now you're leaving, too. The only other one I actually like is Koton, and he'd follow me anywhere. So, I'm coming with you."

Yukie smiled, "Makes sense to me. This should be fun." She rose and so did Leon, "But you do understand that this little 'moment' we just had will _never_ happen again."

Leon laughed, "Yeah. I know."


	16. The Akatsuki in Konoha

(A/N: Umm… I'm not much of a fan of the Akatsuki… they just kinda managed to squeeze their way into the scene lots and lots. So here they are again. I'm gonna, eventually, jump around to each of them in turn. Considering the fact that I'm not much of a fan of them, I kinda made the leaf nins look way better and stronger… but I still tried giving the Akatsuki a lil bit of credit, considering they're "powerful missing nins" or something like that. So yeah. I also made Jazlynn up, so don't go looking her up or nething… and don't worry, Sasuke's coming up next! Enjoy and please RnR)

Sasuke moved quickly to keep up with the others in the Akatsuki. The eight traveled just close enough to defend each other, but not so close that a spy could keep an eye on all of them. Zero had refused to move with them, saying he had to keep an eye on the headquarters.

Deidara was leading, with Sasori beside her. She kept a hard pace, but everybody managed. Three was having the most trouble, so he and Zetsu had fallen to the rear. The two insisted he was fine, but Sasuke thought differently. He didn't voice his suspicions to Kisame; even though they were partners, Sasuke didn't trust him. The quietest pair was North and White. They hardly ever talked, not even to each other. Kisame said North was a specialized spy, and White preferred the "silent killing." Sasuke hadn't wanted to know more.

* * *

Orochimaru met the Akatsuki at the Hidden Leaf Village's entrance. He said Tsunade had been knocked out and all they had left to do was take out the ninjas. The sand ninjas were on their way, but the big group was moving slowly. Sasuke noticed Orochimaru was wearing an Akatsuki ring. He assumed it was to show his connection to them, but there was probably more reason. The Akatsuki spread out in their pairs and wove through the village, fighting and killing any who claimed allegiance to Konoha.

* * *

White and North traveled quickly through the village, killing the weaker ninjas with ease. One child put up a fuss, screaming for help. North held her in place and White bent down to look in her purple-white eyes.

"What's your name, girl?" he demanded in a growling voice.

"Hyuuga Jazlynn. When my cousin finds you, she'll kill you!" Jazlynn shouted, kicking North hard. North's grip faltered and Jazlynn wriggled out and rammed her head into White's gut. Before she could move away, though, North stabbed her in the back, cutting through her spine. Jazlynn stopped; her legs gave out under her and in one swift movement, White severed her head.

The next thing the two knew, shuriken and kunai were flying at them from all directions. White and North jumped back quickly and White performed his special jutsu, _Moving Ground_. He vanished into the ground, ready to kill whatever enemy appeared. North readied himself to fight, waiting in anticipation for the enemy. All was still for almost a minute, until White, who was still hidden, noticed a change in North.

North straightened and called, "Come on back, they're gone now."

White hesitated, scanning the area. North may be one of the best spy ninjas around, but there was no way he could know the attackers were gone. Not trusting North entirely, White came back up on the far end, his back facing an empty alleyway. From the alley, White heard a shout. _Gentle Fists: 64 Strikes_. White turned on his heel to find an attack waiting for him. Pain pulsed through his body as the rapid attack hit him. In a manner of seconds, the attack was over.

White fought to catch his breath. He looked up at the black haired girl with familiar purple-white eyes and asked, "Who the hell are you?"

"I am Hyuuga Hinata, Jazlynn's cousin," the girl replied, pulling a kunai from her side pouch. North struggled with himself, trying to move, but unable to. "And I'm going to kill you," Hinata said calmly before flinging the kunai at White. White, reacting quickly, activated his jutsu _Moving Ground_ and vanished.

North formed a sigh, calling, "Now, Tenten!" _Disengage_. North gained consciousness just in time to see more weapons flying at him. He tried to dodge them all, but only managed to avoid any to his vital spots. Once he regained himself, he retreated, heading to the place he would meet White.

Hinata looked up at the roof where Tenten and Ino stood. She forced a smile before bending down to pick up Jazlynn's dead body. She was so young; how could those heartless fiends have killed her? She prayed she would get the chance to kill them again.

* * *

Zetsu scouted the area with Three trailing behind. The part of the village they were in was empty. No bodies, dead or alive. The eerie silence seemed to consume the empty street. Zetsu turned to check on Three, to find he wasn't there. Zetsu cursed under his breath and backtracked down the street.

A few paces ahead of him, Zetsu saw Three coming forward. "Where were you?" Zetsu demanded angrily.

"I'm sorry," he replied, "I got lost."

Zetsu's eyes narrowed, "Where?"

"Back a little. I'm sorry I fell behind."

Zetsu took a step back and threw a kunai at him, saying coolly, "You're not my partner. What did you do with him?" It was more of a demand than a question.

Ibiki's rumbling laughter echoed through the empty street as a blast of smoke revealed him where Three once stood. "I suppose I really didn't do that good of a job imitating him, but you didn't give us much time to prepare."

"What did you do with my partner?" Zetsu asked again, taking a step away from Ibiki.

"He's around," Gai said with a chuckle, jumping down from a roof.

"What did you do to him?"

"Why should someone like me, of superior strength, tell you, who can't even keep track of your own partner?" Gai asked, flexing a muscle.

"Oh, come on now, Gai," Kakashi said with a sigh, coming in around a corner, "He's already outnumbered and doomed to die, why should we make his trouble so much worse?"

Gai's eyebrow twitched in anger as Kakashi stopped to stand next to him. But Ibiki responded before Gai could, "Kakashi, do not let our enemy think that we have a weak spot for him."

"My apologies," Kakashi said with a small bow, "I just thought we could give him a little bit of sympathy, considering that his partner's already dead and he will soon follow."

Zetsu stopped and turned to face Kakashi. Three was dead, or so they said. Zetsu had always been careful not to get attached to members of the Akatsuki, considering their high chance of death. But some time, he had gotten attached. And now the person who could have been his best friend in a long time was now gone. He would never see Three again. That thought was enough to make Zetsu's blood boil.


	17. Not According to Plan

(A/N: eh, kinda short, but that's ok. It's all about Sasuke! And a new ANBU team! Joy! Umm… not really much else to say. Please RnR and Enjoy!)

Sasuke and Kisame stood ready, and tired. Across from them stood Shikamaru and Lee in practically the same condition. Looking at Rock Lee now, Sasuke could hardly see the crippling injuries Gaara had given him so long ago. Similarly, Sasuke could barely recognize Shikamaru, a once lazy ninja, now determined and amazingly strong. The thought that they had once been working together, if not friends, in the same village crossed Sasuke's mind. But, as he gripped his hand and felt the ring for Scarlet and saw the glint of his headband, that Itachi once wore, Sasuke reminded himself that they were not of the same village anymore, and could never be friends.

The fight escalated again as Shikamaru bound Kisame with his shadow technique and Lee jumped forward to attack Sasuke. Dodging the attack easily, Sasuke returned an attack he had copied earlier. When Lee attacked again, Sasuke turned to the side to dodge. Completely disregarding Kisame, Sasuke flew into full combat with Lee. The old rivalry between them flared and both were lost in battle; each only seeing the other and nothing else.

Kisame struggled against the Shadow Bind Jutsu to no avail. He flinched when he felt a burning in his leg, but was unable to look down because of Shikamaru. Shikamaru smiled when Kisame grimaced in pain. Both of his legs felt like they were on fire. He knew Shikamaru couldn't be causing this pain, because Kisame would have made the same movements. So who could be doing this?

As the biting pain spread up to Kisame's waist, Shikamaru spoke, "I suppose I can't leave you like this to die, without knowing what is killing you. So I'll let you see." Shikamaru tilted his head down and so did Kisame. His eyes trailed down and landed on the moving black mass that covered his legs and waist. He let out a shout of terror when he realized what it was. Bugs.

Hundreds of bugs were slowly making their way up Kisame's body, biting his skin and consuming his chakra as they went. Out of the shadows came the third member of Shikamaru's ANBU team: Shino

Shikamaru looked up so Kisame was facing him again. "That must really hurt," Shikamaru commented in a conversational tone, "I honestly don't see much of a point in holding you anymore." And with that, Shikamaru's shadow lowly retracted back to him.

Now free to movie, Kisame's hands clenched into fists and he fell to his knees. He defiantly threw his head back and let out a scream. Shino looked across at Kisame without emotion. It wouldn't be long now until he passed out from Chakra loss. Sure enough, only moments later, Kisame's struggling slowed and he fell forward.

Shikamaru watched Kisame for a moment before saying, "Don't kill him. We need one alive," his eyes trailed over to the fight between Sasuke and Lee before continuing, "And I'm pretty sure he's going to be the only one alive if Lee has his way."

Shino snorted, "Lee always has his way." He held out a hand and the bugs that had covered Kisame slowly returned back to Shino.

Lee gave a powerful attack and Sasuke flew backwards. Even with the first two mental gates opened, Sasuke was being beaten by Lee. Sasuke turned his attention over to Kisame. He knew Lee would wait until Sasuke got up to continue the fight. Lee was an honorable ninja, he did stuff like that.

"Why are you late, anyway?" Shikamaru asked as he waited for the bugs to completely disperse from Kisame's body.

"That boy with the white wolf became trouble. The fight would have lasted longer if some cat hadn't jumped in and said something to the wolf. Then the wolf said something to the boy. And the boy just ran off." Shino concluded with a shrug.

"Did the boy say anything?" Shikamaru asked, seemingly interested in the strange occurrence. Sasuke turned the remainder of his attention to Shino. If he had been fighting Leon, and Kotori had brought news bad enough for him to abandon the fight, Sasuke had to know what it was.

"Yeah. He told me he surrendered and said, 'if Yukie would have stuck with Orochimaru, I would have stayed to fight you. Be grateful Yukie left the Sound; you guys just might have a chance to beat them now.' But it's not much help to us," Shino said, looking down at the hundred or so small bugs still on Kisame.

Sasuke looked back over at Lee, who was panting and favoring his right leg. Sasuke knew that he wasn't in much better shape. But the news about Yukie leaving Orochimaru made him wonder. Orochimaru must have done something horrible to her. That thought alone gave strength to Sasuke, and he stood. Orochimaru could have hurt Yukie, he could have crossed the line; enough to make her leave. Whatever he had done, Sasuke would find out. But for now, he had to defeat Lee and the rest of his team… at least knock them down long enough for him to get away.

Finding his strength, Sasuke ran forward and unleashed a chain of attacks. They were strong enough to throw Lee back, hitting his head on the side of a building. Shikamaru sent out his Shadow Bind jutsu to immobilize Sasuke. Having seen his attack before, Sasuke jumped back to a safe distance. Once there, he ran a full circle around Shikamaru and moved in once his shadow had fallen behind. Sasuke spun on his heel and back-handed Shikamaru's face with his fist. Shikamaru fell back, stunned. His cheek started to redden and he fought to calm his sudden dizziness. Sasuke jumped into the air and kicked upward, hitting Shino's chin and blowing his head back, causing him to lose his balance.

Sasuke grabbed the unconscious Kisame and flung him over his shoulder. He disregarded the few bugs and ran from the group, carrying Kisame like his weight was nothing. He knew where Orochimaru was and would demand an answer. Orochimaru no longer controlled Sasuke. Meaning Sasuke had the power he needed to find out what Orochimaru had done to Yukie.


	18. At The Cliff

(A/N: Mkay, jumping back to Yukie and Leon, I finally started to tie everything in. Not too eventful, 'cept I mention the Sand dudes -I really wish I could give 'em a bigger part. I like the Sand.- Hope y'all like it. Please RnR.)

The traveling went easy for the two ninjas. Yukie and Leon had trained enough in the Hidden Sound Village to travel easily for days on end. Their endurance was high, and they wouldn't need a break until nightfall. As the sun slowly set on the horizon, a fire burned bright; Yukie, Leon, Kotori, and Koton sat around it, watching the four fish cook. Kotori and Koton had spent the whole day riding on Yukie and Leon's shoulders. That way, after they all ate, Yukie and Leon could ride on Kotori and Koton's backs once they took their larger beast forms. Yukie had devised this plan, wanting to get as far away from the Leaf/Sound war as fast as possible. Yukie looked into the fire, lost in thought.

Finally, she looked over at Leon, asking, "Why are you coming with me, anyway? You said it was because we were friends and you had nothing else better to do… but I don't think that's it."

Leon sighed, leaning back on his elbows to look at the stars and replied, "I dunno. I guess I'd just rather be with you at the moment. There's really no big reason. It's just… what I decided to do."

She looked sideways at him, without moving her face away from the warm flames, "What if I had refused to let you come?"

Leon shrugged, "I guess I woulda insisted and followed you anyway."

"And you think I would have let you?" Yukie challenged with a half smile.

"Like you could have stopped me!" Leon laughed.

"I think I could have," Yukie said, her grin changing to resemble mock-malevolence, "And I'm sure you think the same thing, too!"

"I definitely do not," Leon replied in a fake resentful tone.

"Would you care to find out, my little follower?" Yukie asked, turning to face him and raising an eyebrow.

"Of course I would," Leon replied happily, standing up and helping Yukie to her feet.

She let him help her then took a step back with a defiant laugh, "You can't beat me."

"We'll find out in a moment," Leon said, barely able to keep his forced angry voice.

But the carefree attitude vanished with the snap of a branch and a presence not too far off. "But another time," Yukie said in a whisper, performing a jutsu at the same time, _Hidden Shadow_. She vanished into the shadows surrounding the forest to scout the place for a threat. Leon moved hastily to the fire. He wrapped the four fish in a cloth and tucked them into his bag. The smell could have attracted unwanted guests. He then put the fire out with a bucket of water he had placed next to the fire. If the food hadn't attracted intruders, the smoke and warmth probably had.

Once the fire was completely out, Leon grabbed his bag and ran into the forest, telling the two animals, "come on." They followed him into the forest and he picked out a tree with good cover. With a few leaps, Leon was near the top of the tree and perched there with Kotori and Koton on another branch. With any luck, they hadn't seen Leon, only the abandoned camp sight. But Yukie would find out for sure. She could easily find Leon, so he sat in the tree, waiting.

Only about ten minutes later did Yukie rise out of the shadows next to Leon. She sat for a moment and looked at him, as if she'd been sitting there the whole time. He assumed she was making sure he wasn't an impostor, so he sat still until she seemed to relax.

"Well?" Leon asked when she let out a small sigh.

"They're ninjas from the Hidden Sand Village, traveling to help out Konoha. Orochimaru doesn't stand a chance if they arrive before he's done."

"Did you see their leader?"

Yukie shook her head, "The Kazekage wasn't there. But the group was being led by two ninjas; a boy and a girl. The boy was big, with an all black outfit and something in bandages on his back. The girl wore purple and had blond hair. She had a giant fan strapped to her back. They're a strange pair. But the scout didn't seem to spot us. There were six of them who fanned out to make sure there wasn't a threat, probably."

"How big is the group?"

"About a hundred. But they're moving slow. It looks like they've been traveling straight through, no breaks. But they seem to be in good shape. I say we stay here until they pass."

Leon sighed and leaned back into the tree, "Sounds fine to me."

They spent the next thirty minutes in the tree, waiting for the whole group to pass. After the Sand ninjas were a safe distance away, Kotori and Koton took on their large beast forms. Yukie rode on Kotori and Leon rode on Koton. Once the animals began to move at a steady pace, Yukie and Leon felt safe enough to relax. Soon, they were asleep as the two beasts moved fluidly through the moon-lit forest.

The routine went on for another day and night before the four ran into something of interest. Yukie had woken a little while earlier, but she didn't know why. Something had just told her to wake up. Light was starting to spread across the valley they were moving through. Soon, the sun would rise and they could eat a morning meal before switching places and moving on.

Yukie was looking up at the sky as the stars began to fade. She barely noticed when Kotori's smooth steps stopped. Shocked, she looked ahead. A huge cliff towered over the four travelers, but Yukie couldn't understand why this had stopped their travels. Then she noticed Koton, a few steps ahead, scenting the wind. Kotori moved her head a little, an eye meeting Yukie's. Her ear twitched and she turned back to face Koton and Leon.

Yukie nodded and dismounted. Apparently, Leon had noticed the stop, too, and was waking slowly. She walked over to him and placed a hand on his arm. "Get off. Something's up." Leon nodded and silently got off. "Come back here," Yukie said as she walked back to Kotori. Leon did as he was told and also stood next to Kotori.

After a minute of sniffing around, Koton turned back to Leon. Leon's face contorted to shock. At Yukie's questioning expression, Leon said quietly, "Sasuke's been here. Inside that cliff wall is a meeting place for ninjas."


	19. Leaving With Style

(A/N: Okay, just so y'all know, I am a bit of a fan of Orochimaru. But nonetheless, I had a blast w/ the lil conflict -u'll kno wut I'm talking about after u read it-. That's about it, actually. So I hope y'all enjoyed it and please RnR!)

"You bastard," Zetsu said in an angry voice as the news about Three's murder sunk in. "You will _pay _for what you did."

"Not now, Boar." White's voice came form somewhere near him, "North has Three. It's time for us to leave. Turquoise's orders."

Zetsu hesitated for a second, but knew better than to disobey White and Deidara. He slowly sunk into the ground and vanished. Once they were at a safe distance, White and Zetsu came out of hiding and met up with North carrying Three's body. The Akatsuki all met by the entrance of Konoha. All of them were more than a little shaken. Deidara talked to all of them and they told her about the fights and opponents.

Deidara and Sasori faced up against Jiraiya, Naruto, and Kiba. Deidara and Sasori were caught off guard by the fox demon boy they had faced only a year ago. White and North retreated from Tenten, Hinata, and Ino. Zetsu and Three fought against Ibiki, Kakashi, and Gai, resulting in Three's murder. Kisame lay, leaning against the wall, unconscious. They didn't know where Sasuke was, or who he faced.

Deidara paced back and forth in front of Kisame's unconscious body. "Where the hell is Sasuke!" she shouted, her usual façade shattered by the disaster that had become of this little war. "And Orochimaru, too! He's supposed to meet us here. Somebody wake Kisame up; I want to know everything that happened!" And with that she stormed away in search of Sasuke and Orochimaru.

* * *

Sasuke and Orochimaru stood facing each other. This had to end now.

"Why did Yukie leave? What did you do to her?" Sasuke demanded.

Orochimaru shrugged, "I did nothing. She merely overreacted."

"About what?" Sasuke pressed, unwilling to give up.

"About Talah."

Sasuke cursed under his breath; so that was what it was all about. Yukie and Talah had been very close. Considering her experiences in Konoha, she couldn't have been expected to react _well_. "You knew what the outcome of that would be like," Sasuke said after a moment.

"Believe me, my boy, I never expected Yukie to _leave me_." Orochimaru said gravely.

Sasuke knew it was true enough. Orochimaru wouldn't do something to make Yukie leave. "But you had to have known she would have reacted badly."

Orochimaru shrugged nonchalantly, "I expected she would have reacted badly. But I also expected she would deal with it, like she always has. She's lost more friends to help me than either of us care to count. Yet with every loss, she only seemed to get stronger… until now…"

"Or maybe she became too strong to be fooled by you," Sasuke said angrily.

"Like you did?" Orochimaru mused.

Sasuke shrugged, "Probably even stronger than me."

Orochimaru nodded, "She is easily stronger than all of us… especially with that darkness inside of her."

"But she's gone now," Sasuke said with a sigh.

"And we should be, too, yeah, yeah," Deidara said behind Sasuke. Sasuke didn't react and Deidara continued, "We're leaving, Orochimaru. The Sand ninjas are on their way. We won't risk ourselves any further for your goal, no matter how much you offer us. Today, Orochimaru, is the end. We are severing our ties with you once and for all."

"Don't you think you should leave Zero to decide this?" Orochimaru asked, seething.

"No! You're out, yeah, yeah. Give Sasuke the ring. You don't get it anymore."

"You'll have to take it from me," Orochimaru challenged, lifting his left had so the ring could be seen on his pinky finger.

"Sounds fun," Deidara said with a sly smile, "Say goodbye to your hand, yeah, yeah." Before Orochimaru could react, Deidara performed a jutsu and a clay bracelet appeared around Orochimaru's writ. Once he recognized the clay-made-bomb Deidara had made, the most he could do was move his hand as far from his face as possible before it exploded.

The explosion was small. Deidara and Sasuke were unharmed. Orochimaru was also unharmed, with the exception of his severed hand and blood-covered arm and face. Deidara walked forward, a pleased grin pasted onto her face. Orochimaru looked away in a mixture of anger and disgust. Sasuke watched in astonished horror as Deidara picked up Orochimaru's detached hand and smoothly pulled the ring off.

She walked over to Orochimaru and held out his hand for him to take. "I believe this belongs to you," she said in a pleased voice that matched her smile perfectly.

Orochimaru took the hand with his right, shaking with anger. He looked like he was about to say something, but stopped himself. His rage could cause him to do something he would regret, and apparently he knew it. Orochimaru tried to calm down so he could speak. As Orochimaru tried to gain his voice over his anger, Deidara turned and walked away, gesturing for Sasuke to follow. With a last glance at the outraged Orochimaru, Sasuke followed Deidara.

"What happened?" Deidara demanded, "Tell me everything, yeah, yeah."

Sasuke shook his head, saying quietly, "Personal matters. The fight went bad and I confronted Orochimaru for my own reasons."

Deidara seemed unhappy with his reply, but let the subject drop. "We're going back now." Deidara handed the ring to Sasuke, "Hang onto this until we need it again."

Deidara and Sasuke met up with the others at the exit. Kisame had woken up, but his skin was so injured from Shino's warrior bugs, he couldn't walk. Sasori used one of his puppets to carry Kisame. They headed back to the Akatsuki headquarters at a steady pace. They traveled close together, but once in a while a scout would go out to check the surroundings. One time, Sasuke went out and found traces of the Sand ninjas. If they had left much later, they would have been caught.


	20. True NightShade

(A/N: Almost done! And, I kno y'all have been waiting for it, I stick Night Shade in it! -AKA: Why the FF is named Night Shade- so, ya. I'm happy w/ this one. So, hope y'all enjoy reading it and please please RnR)

Yukie eyed the cliff, walking up to it and examining it. "How do they get in?" she asked, more to herself than anything.

Leon shrugged, answering anyway, "A jutsu, I guess."

"I'm going in," Yukie declared, performing her spy jutsu, _Hidden Shadow_. Her body became black and shadowed. She slowly sunk into the ground and vanished into the shadows.

Leon waited in silence, wondering if Yukie had made it inside. He stood impatiently, Koton on one side and an anxious Kotori on the other. He heard Yukie's voice cry out, an anguished voice echoing into the darkness.

"Yukie!" Leon called out, wondering if she could hear him. Kotori's body went rigid and she stared with earnest eyes at the cliff wall. "Yukie!" he called again. No reply. "Damn. I shouldn't have let her go."

Kotori changed back to her small cat form and vanished, _Shadow Leap_. Leon stared blackly at the spot Kotori had been. But his attention was drawn back to the cliff when somebody walked through it. He was holding Yukie close to him around her waist, a long knife held at her neck. Leon took a step back and Koton, in his small dog form, leapt onto his shoulder.

"You're with her." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. This man must have been watching them this whole time. Although he held Yukie tight, threatening to kill her at any sense of threat, his voice was amused and his dark eyes were curious. "You know, nobody has broken into here before," he said conversationally to the two, as if they were having some idle chat.

"Well then I guess it was about time somebody gave you a run for your money," Yukie replied cheerfully, falling instinctively into her sardonic behavior. Whenever she faced somebody she didn't like, her attitude instantly changed into one to annoy.

But her comment didn't seem to affect him at all. "I guess you're right," he said with a slight shrug, "But still, not just anybody could get in. I must admit, I'm intrigued by your abilities." As he said this, he put his long knife away and released Yukie. She took a hasty step away from him and spun on her heel to face him. To her great surprise, he held out his hand, saying, "My name is Zero. Welcome to the Akatsuki entrance. If you're interested, you're welcome to come inside and talk with me. I'd like to get to know you two better."

This completely threw Yukie off. She just stared at his hand that he still held for her to shake. She finally looked up to meet his eyes questioning, "Why do you want to talk to us?"

"I told you before, you intrigue me," Zero replied, dropping his hand back to his side, "I have no tricks. I just want to talk with you and your friend."

Yukie glanced back at Leon to see his take on it all. He just shrugged. She turned back to Zero, "Fine. We'll come in. But you will let us leave if we want?" He nodded, but Yukie pressed on, "I want your word."

"Very well. I promise you, if you ever have the desire to leave and voice that desire to me, I will let you leave and will do nothing to stop you. You have my word, and my word is not easily broken." Yukie seemed satisfied by this. Zero opened the entrance to the Akatsuki and stood aside for Yukie to enter. "After you, my dear."

Yukie eyed Zero again before deciding to enter. She stopped forward and called out, "Kotori," the cat appeared instantly out of the shadows, "is everything clear?" Kotori meowed and Yukie nodded her approval. Kotori jumped onto her shoulder and the two entered, followed closely by Leon, then Zero.

Inside, Zero took the lead and the two guests followed with caution. He took them down a flight of stairs and into a large, dimly lit room. Zero stopped for a moment then continued straight through the room and Yukie and Leon fought to keep up without running. Having gained enough space between them, Zero reached the door and performed a jutsu.

A clear barrier rose in between Zero and the other two. Out of the ground grew hundreds of faceless, limp, human-sized dolls. One vaulted forward, holding a long blade in its hand. Yukie dodged the attack. Kotori leapt off Yukie's shoulder and used her special jutsu _Night's Beast_. Kotori held them off and Yukie ran to the barrier. Leon was already there with Koton covering his back.

"What's the big idea, Zero?" Yukie demanded.

"You can leave if you want," Zero replied calmly, "the exit is open. I will not stand in your way. I brought you here because your abilities intrigue me. What better way to see them than to watch you fight?"

Yukie hesitated, "What will we get if we impress you?"

"The other members of the Akatsuki are fighting in Konoha as we speak. Konoha is strong. Every one of our members will not come back alive. Assuming the positions are open, I offer you a place in the Akatsuki."

"…Sasuke's in the Akatsuki, isn't he?" Leon asked quietly. Zero nodded.

Yukie and Leon exchanged glances, both thinking of their options. A conversation seemed to go on between them without words. After a few minutes of considering their options, the two turned their backs on Zero and prepared for battle.

* * *

"Keep them together," Yukie ordered the other three, "I can get rid of them, easy." The three spread out around the room to get the dolls into the center. Yukie went to the center of the large room and performed a jutsu, _Night Shade_. The entire room turned black, immersed in shadow. Yukie jumped into the air and dove back to the ground. Instead of landing head first onto the hard ground, she went through the floor and vanished into the shadow.

There was a moment of tense silence when Leon, Kotori, and Koton herded the faceless dolls into the center and Zero watched in anticipation. One of the dolls stopped, suddenly alert. Yukie leapt out of the ground and with one stroke of a kunai, defeated the doll. It fell back and vanished. Yukie dove back into the ground once again.

There was silence again before Yukie appeared again, in another place, taking off the heads of two more dolls before diving back into her dark abyss. She popped up again and threw shuriken to take out four more. It continued like this for some time until there were few enough dolls left that Leon, Kotori, and Koton could start fighting, too.

Zero watched in astonishment as Koton hurtled through the air and bit off the head of the last doll, which vanished before hitting the ground. The four fighters turned and looked at Zero. They had defeated 500 dolls, each created to fight and move uniquely. And they had done it in less than ten minutes. Zero doubted that even he could do such a thing. All he could do was smile and release the barrier jutsu he had placed in front of him.


	21. Sky and Three

(A/N at the bottom)

The seven Akatsuki members reached the entrance shortly after twilight. They sent Sasuke out to the small clearing first, to check that nobody was waiting for them. It took Sasuke longer than it should have to come back, but Deidara kept the others in the cover of the trees.

Sasuke didn't find any people or traps set up. The most recent traces he found were from the morning. The one thing that threw him off was the types of tracks he found. Two sets of feet, one big (probably a boy's) and the other dainty (probably a girl's). There were also two sets of giant paws. What bothered Sasuke was he recognized the tracks. He followed them to the Akatsuki entrance, where another set of footprints appeared. Sasuke assumed the next set belonged to Zero.

The footprints went into the Akatsuki HQ and never came out. Sasuke feared the worst. If Zero had harmed Yukie and Leon, he would hear Sasuke's say about it. Although Sasuke didn't want to leave the Akatsuki, he would for Yukie and Leon. Sasuke went back to Deidara and told her the coast was clear. When asked why he took so long, Sasuke just shrugged the question off.

Inside the headquarters, everything was just as it should be. Nothing was out of place; no signs of a struggle. If Zero had tried to harm Yukie, there would have been signs of a struggle, and Zero wouldn't have been able to clean it up in such a short amount of time.

They walked further into the headquarters, with no sign of Zero or his captives. Sasuke scanned each dimly lit room and hallway carefully for any sign of Yukie or Leon, but found none. It wasn't until a long ways in that Deidara and the others stopped. Zero stood before them and eyed the sad looking group.

"Where's is Three?" Zero demanded, looking straight at Deidara.

"He was killed by the ANBU leader of Konoha," Deidara replied without emotion.

"Do you have his ring?"

Deidara nodded, "It is in Zetsu's possession."

"Give it to me, Boar," Zero ordered. Zetsu obliged and handed the ring to Zero. He continued, "Did you get the other ring?"

Deidara nodded again, "Sasuke has it."

"Give it to me, Scarlet," Zero commanded. Sasuke handed it over and Zero continued again. "We have two rings without owners. Only the weakest will die. I admit that I sent you all on a death mission. Only those worthy of life and given strength could have survived. Those that are no longer with us did not deserve to be with us. They have dishonored the Akatsuki and will never be mentioned within these walls again. From this point on, the owners of these rings will be addressed properly and welcomed into the Akatsuki organization. I present to you Sky."

Zero held up Orochimaru's ring for all to see and a woman wearing the Akatsuki clothing came forward. Her brilliant green eyes seemed to jump from her pale skin and contrasted raven black hair. Zero presented the ring to her and she put it on her left little finger.

"And her partner," Zero continued, holding up the other ring, "Three."

A man, also in the Akatsuki clothing, walked forward and placed the ring on his left index finger. He had short silver hair and wolfish eyes that seemed to see everything. The two stood beside each other, looking at the other Akatsuki members.

"They will be teamed with Scarlet, who will teach them to be proper Akatsuki members. South and Boar will work together. I will continue to work alone; I have no need for a partner. Now, you are all dismissed." Zero said before turning his back and going back into his office/room.

The other Akatsuki members left and Sasuke came forward to greet his two new partners.

A/N: mkay. Well. Over all I'm happy w/ all this junk and glad I actually finished something. I'm not too happy w/ the very last line… but I've never been good at endings. So, after this, I will post other stuff that's just kinda fun for some people to look at. I hope you all like it. I may do a sequel, if proper motivated and others think I should. Let me know. Please RnR, I love getting 'em. Lata!

Raven


	22. NightShade: Moon Rising

(A/N: Yes. That was the ending. But this is a sneak peak at wut I'm gonna do for the 2nd one… if I actually do a 2nd one. If ur interested, let me kno. I'll do it if enough people want to see it. Enjoy!)

**Night Shade – Moon Rising**

The moon sat high in the sky and a gentle breeze wafted through the air. Yukie looked up at the sky, letting the wind blow through her ebony black hair. The full moon's light shown on her face, lighting up her pale skin. Her black empty eyes stared solemnly at the moon.

Her eyes used to be green. But her power had consumed her and she had seen too much. The light had faded from her eyes, just like it had faded form her life. While looking up at the moon, Yukie remembered many things. She remembered when she was happy. She remembered when she valued human life. She remembered when she had Kotori beside her. She remembered when she cared about all the things she had lost.

At one time, she had wanted to become a traveling ninja, helping those who needed it. She could almost hear Leon's voice saying to her, "I'm coming with you. If you are leaving Orochimaru, then I have no desire to stay with him." But she wouldn't hear him again; he was dead. Orochimaru had vanished. Kotori and Koton were gone. The only one who hadn't left Yukie was Sasuke…

Yukie was pulled back to the present when she heard somebody come out of the Akatsuki top entrance. Quiet footsteps crossed the length from the entrance to the edge of the cliff where Yukie sat. He sat next to her, his legs dangling over the cliff.

"It's a full moon," Sasuke observed, following Yukie's gaze to the moon.

Yukie nodded, "I always feel more at peace when it's a full moon." She hesitated for a second, contemplating if she should continue. "I… remember more. It's like… every day I live in shadow. The things that happen just kind of fade away. But on nights like this… all the shadow goes away."

Sasuke heard the traces of sadness in her voice, like he always could, and wrapped a comforting arm around her. He had no words he could say to make her feel better. She was being consumed by the darkness she used every day of her life. Sasuke had noticed this a little while ago, when her eyes started to get darker. Eventually, her bright green eyes faded to black, then spread to cover the whites of her eyes.

She was fading away. Some day, not even the full moon's light would be able to bring her back. Then Yukie would be lost, just like Orochimaru had intended form the beginning.

1234567890

(A/N: And one more that I just kinda felt like typing. I dunno if I'll ever use it… I think Konohamaru's such a cute kid… eh. Once again, enjoy and please RnR)

"What is it, Deidara?" Zero asked, causing Yukie and Sasuke to look up.

"We found a sneak, yeah, yeah," Deidara replied, holding a child up into the air, "He's from Konoha."

Sasuke recognized the child immediately: Konohamaru. He hadn't grown much since Sasuke was in Konoha. Looking at the kid and listening to him complain and threaten; he was reminded of Konohamaru's idol – Naruto. He had the same defiant eyes, demanding to be noticed. He spoke the same, rolling off threats, one after another. Sasuke didn't want to look anymore; he didn't want to remember.

Zero chuckled to himself, "Deidara, leave the child here; I want to see something." Deidara threw Konohamaru to the ground and left. Zero turned to Sasuke, "Kill him."

Konohamaru fell silent. Sasuke looked down at the boy. He looked at Konohamaru and saw Naruto. Why did _he_ have to kill Konohamaru?

"This child is useless to us," Zero persisted, his voice harsh and commanding, "Kill him now."

"Please, Sasuke," Konohamaru begged, his eyes beginning to well with tears, "Please."

Shit. He had recognized him. That was the undoing. Sasuke sighed. It was just like with Naruto. "I can't do it."

"Kill him, Sasuke!" Zero shouted, "That's an order!" Sasuke shook his head sadly; he just couldn't do it. Zero sighed, disappointed that his hunch was right, and turned to Yukie, "Kill him."

Yukie performed the jutsu quickly, _Shadow Hands_. Her hands grew and turned black. With one flick of her wrist, five long black strands shot from her fingers and flew at Konohamaru. He only had time to let out a small cry before the black strands sliced through his body like a hot knife through butter.

Sasuke turned away as the boy fell over, lifeless and bloody. Zero smiled slightly.

"What connection do you have with that boy, Sasuke?" Zero asked slyly.


	23. Extra Stuff

A/N: just some extra stuff I decided to put in. Not really a story or nething.

This is how I arranged the teams in Naruto. I kno I didn't do the InoShikaCho thing… but I really didn't think of that till later. And I also kno I made the chicks weakest… but I placed them where I thought they went best based on skill in my opinion.

The first name is the leader and the other two are the other members. Every team needs a leader, whether they think they have one or not. So there.

ANBU Squads  
(top/lead squad) Ibiki, Kakashi, Gai  
Shikamaru, Shino, Lee  
Jiraiya, Naruto, Kiba

Jounin Squads  
Anko, Neji, Chouji

Chuunin Squads  
Tenten, Hinata, Ino

Teachers  
Asuma: #10  
Kurenai: #5  
Ebisu: #2 – Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon  
Sakura: #7  
Iruka: group

* * *

Next is a buncha jutsus. First is the name, then those who use it, then what it does. (Note: I did make most of them up)

Hidden Snake Hands – Anko, Yukie, Orochimaru – Snakes come from hands (4 snakes)

Double Snake Assassination – Anko, Orochimaru – both users perform hand signs and die

Paralyzing Glare – Leon, Koton – paralyze target by making eye contact

Moving Ground – White – go into ground and move around freely

Shadow Hands – Yukie – Shadows extend as hands

Shadow Summon – Yukie – Summon Kotori or ghost of people who accept summon

Night Shade – Yukie – room turns black, Yukie becomes shadow, can attack from anywhere (ultimate)

Midnight's Light – Yukie – everything light but in shadow, spikes fly from surfaces

Shadow Leap – Yukie, Kotori – teleport through shadows (sup of Night Shade)

Shadow Bind – Yukie & Kotori – 2 combine and attack (in Night Shade)

Night's Beast – Kotori – grows to beast size (of own will, no signs)

Night's Sleep – Yukie, Kotori – puts opponent to sleep

Midnight's Storm – Yukie & Kotori – Yukie on Kotori in sky, sky goes black, black lighting strikes

Healing Shadows – Yukie, Kotori – triggered by the mind, heals wounds, takes 1 min or more

Hidden Shadow – Yukie – Yukie goes into shadow ground and can move (pre Night Shade)

Shadow Blade Hidden Shadow – Yukie – makes blade bigger by covering in shadow (2x longer 5x wider)

That's all.

Hope they were all interesting or something

The end! (yay!)


End file.
